Rice keeps tuition below $30,000 for the 2008-09 school year and doubles no-loan threshold

Rice keeps tuition below $30,000 for the 2008-09 school year and doubles no-loan threshold

BY LINDA THRANE
Vice President for Public Affairs

Rice University this week announced that it will hold tuition to $29,960 for the 2008-09 freshman class and that it has doubled the income threshold for its no-loan policy to $60,000.

Doubling the income threshold for the no-loan policy means that students with family incomes below $60,000 will not be required to take out loans to pay for college. This fall, for example, almost 20 percent of the freshmen were from families with incomes under $60,000.

Tuition will increase $1,560, or 5.5 percent, over the previous year’s.  One of the country’s premier research universities and known for its high-quality undergraduate education, Rice has consistently kept tuition about $6,000 below that of comparable institutions.

The tuition increase was approved by the Rice Board of Trustees at the Dec. 13 quarterly meeting.  Room and board for the year will be up $500 to $10,750.  Including tuition and fees, the total increase over the previous year’s amount is 5.3 percent.

The school also announced that more merit scholarships will be available for the next school year. 

“What’s hot news at some elite universities is tradition at Rice,” said Chris Munoz, vice president for enrollment. “We focus on what it takes to provide a premier but affordable educational experience for our students, and that’s why we have a reputation for providing best value.” The 2008 edition of the Princeton Review’s “America’s Best-Value Colleges” ranked Rice as the No. 1 best value among private colleges. 

Rice admits students regardless of their ability to pay and provides financial-aid packages that meet 100 percent of their demonstrated need. Packages can include federal and state grants, loans and work-study opportunities. Forty-three percent of the current freshman class received need-based aid, which on average covers nearly 75 percent of tuition. No students who have demonstrated a need for financial aid are required to borrow more than $14,525 over their entire four-year undergraduate education.

“We are in a time of great concern about the costs of higher education and at the same time facing escalating costs for energy and other basics, as well as greater competition for top faculty, students and resources,” Rice President David Leebron said. “We constantly monitor all of these factors and take steps to ensure that our education is accessible and affordable.

“Every decision is aimed at giving students the best education and research opportunities and in cultivating their unique abilities and interests so that they leave Rice ready to have successful careers in which they contribute to their professions, their communities and the world,” Leebron said. “At the end of the day, that’s Rice’s value proposition.”  

For more information about Rice and its financial-aid programs and to apply, go to www.futureowls.rice.edu.