RICE: Where Are We Now? Where Can We Go?

Affordability

Affordability is always an issue in higher education. One of our goals was to assure that there always was at least one highly selective university accessible to low- and middle-income families—Rice.

Publicity about Rice’s being a “best buy” a decade ago has put us on the map for many people outside Texas, and the cost/quality mix is important in understanding the Rice model and the success we achieve with it. Publications such as Kiplinger’s, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and Princeton Review consistently cite us as a best value.

The university remains responsive to the wishes of William Marsh Rice: a school serving young people of slender means. For 17 other selective private universities, average family income for students receiving need-based aid was $78,000. For Rice, the comparable figure was $65,000, or 17 percent lower. This is one reason why we keep our tuition $9,000 to $10,000 lower than the Ivies and our financial aid generous. As a result, our graduates go out into the world with two huge advantages: a Rice degree and by far the lowest debt of any of our peer schools. In fact, only a very small handful of other universities boast lower debt for graduating seniors, and most of those are state institutions. An amazing 52 percent of our graduates never borrowed a dime.

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