I guess that Tom Monaghan’s attempt to found a new “Notre Dame” with his establishment of Ave Maria College in Michigan didn’t pan out. So he moved the whole enterprise to Florida. There was a great deal of upset along the way since many of the students and faculty at the college did not want to move down to Florida. But that didn’t matter.
Ave Maria College tried recruiting my son but I’m glad that he went to the real Notre Dame instead since the move to Florida would have occurred right in the middle of his college career. And, of course, ND is a much better school.
As far as secular standards go, ND is probably a better school because it is timid about Catholic Truth.
If your standard is an excellent liberal arts education in an excellent nurturing Catholic environment, ND fails.
If you send your kids to ND, they have to work hard to be Catholic - and many won’t do that.
At Ave Maria, you have to work hard to ignore Catholic Truth.