This is not what I am told by ND alumni. More so by Stanford alumni, as I live and work in the Bay Area. The entrance standards are higher...and, yes, to your point, it's much harder being a student once in. That is a serious enough margin of difference.
I'm with you on some kind of remedial and constructive path to degree of utility. It's going to have to be easy, full stop.
I went to an all boy Catholic HS in NYC. We had 1, 2, 3 tier core curriculum levels, the 3rd being honors classes. A lot of my all tier 1 friends progressed by senior year into even some honors. Plus in the last 2 years, we had regular vs advanced optional classes: ecology vs physics, calculus vs a light discrete and combinatorial math.
That's the Catholic mission: accommodating all levels from all walks of life, with reasonable tuition. I'm not saying ND lower its tuition, but the social mission can be done with football in mind with a progressive degree program.
As always, just my 2 cents.