Enduring Commitments

Anyone who reads Notre Dame’s Vision for Undergraduate Education will see that we aim to educate the whole person—intellectual, moral, spiritual. This means we must not only transmit worldly knowledge but also form students’ character; provide a climate hospitable to conversations about God, the good, and truth; and offer students the most profound experience of community they may ever know.

Several principles have proven integral to our pursuit of Goal II and will remain in place as we move forward.

• Undergraduate enrollment has long been composed almost exclusively of full-time students, a ratio we expect to remain stable through the period covered by “A Legacy Expanded” and beyond.
• The University began meeting the full demonstrated financial need of undergraduates in 1999, and this policy is essential to maintaining access to a Notre Dame education, ensuring socioeconomic status does not serve as a barrier to admission.
• We expect our most talented researchers to be active in our undergraduate classrooms, as well. As such, multi-faceted and rigorous teaching evaluations will continue to be crucial in reappointment, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions.
• Complementing our abiding belief in the value of a core curriculum focused on the liberal arts, we are also leveraging recent investments like those in the Glynn Family Honors Program, the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, and the Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement to infuse innovation and further academic rigor into undergraduate education.
• Through our residence halls and student services, we seek to cultivate a distinctive sense of community grounded in faith, spirituality, mutual support, and development of the whole person. In addition, a robust variety of extracurricular and service organizations provide opportunities for students to build leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
• Varsity athletics have played a special role in Notre Dame’s history and growth, and we remain dedicated to offering an integrated student-athlete experience that allows us to achieve academic and competitive success with integrity.