Rice University President Reginald DesRoches offered a compelling and in-depth account of the university’s future during a one-on-one interview April 29 with The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Ian Wilhelm in Washington, D.C. The conversation, held at the Chronicle’s offices and sponsored by Rice, touched on many of the most pressing issues facing higher education — enrollment trends, financial aid, research funding cutbacks and scrutiny of diversity initiatives — while highlighting Rice’s distinct path forward.
Asked why Rice is aiming to grow its undergraduate enrollment to 5,200 students by 2028 — a 30% increase from 2020 — at a time when many universities are bracing for a national demographic downturn, DesRoches was unequivocal.
“It’s about accessibility, and we say we like to redefine what it means to be elite,” he said. “And it’s not about being exclusive. It’s about being accessible and providing a high-quality education, personalized education, which is how we describe it at Rice.”
DesRoches acknowledged the demographic shifts impacting higher education nationally but pointed out that Rice is uniquely positioned to grow. While Texas is experiencing population growth, Rice’s reach has expanded well beyond the state. Traditionally, 30% to 40% of Rice students have come from Texas, but that number is beginning to change — not from declining interest but because demand from other parts of the country is increasing.
“Our Northeast numbers this year are larger than they’ve ever been,” DesRoches said. “We say that Rice has been a hidden secret. … Now, obviously we’re making an effort to make sure everybody knows about the opportunities that Rice [offers], our generous financial aid package.”
A cornerstone of that effort is The Rice Investment, the university’s bold financial aid initiative launched in 2019. Designed to eliminate financial barriers for talented students, the program provides full tuition scholarships to students from families earning under $140,000 and scaled support up to $300,000 in income.
“It’s very generous, it’s very transparent, it’s pretty simple in terms of the metrics, and it’s allowed us to recruit an outstanding and diverse student body,” DesRoches explained. “This year, we were 21% Pell, the highest we’ve ever been. Very proud of that large number of first-generation students at Rice.”
This expansion in access is possible in large part because of Rice’s $8 billion endowment, which contributes significantly to the university’s operating budget. “We draw 5% of the endowment annually, which is in line with our peers, and that gives us about $400 million,” DesRoches said. “For us, that’s 40% of our budget — actually the second largest in the country. And half of that goes directly toward financial aid.”
With the university preparing to grow its undergraduate population significantly, DesRoches acknowledged that sustaining this level of support requires continued effort. “We wouldn’t be able to afford the generous financial aid package were it not for the generous endowment that we have. Now that we’re growing 30%, we know those numbers will increase,” he said.
That commitment comes at a time when federal policymakers are considering increased taxes on university endowments. In a separate discussion hosted by Wilhelm, Sandy Baum, senior fellow at the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, and Neal McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, discussed how endowments support vital missions and student success. For DesRoches, it’s an issue he is actively addressing with congressional leaders.
“I’ve spent more time, I think, this year than in my previous six years at Rice doing that,” he said, referring to Capitol Hill meetings on the issue. “We have pamphlets that show how we use our endowment. And the response is always, ‘Wow, we didn’t realize that. We didn’t know this.’ So we are putting a lot of time and effort [into] explaining how we use our endowment, how important it is for our student body and how a tax will just impact the amount of scholarships we’d be able to give.”
The conversation also turned to federal research funding, another area of growing concern. Proposed cuts and limits on finance and administration reimbursements could put pressure on universities like Rice that rely on federal support to sustain groundbreaking research.
“The partnership that the U.S. government has had with universities, which dates back to the 1940s, has been absolutely critical to making higher education in the U.S. the best in the world,” DesRoches said. “If you look at nearly any discovery we have now — from GPS to the iPhones to AI — it was a result of that critical partnership.”
DesRoches was clear in stating that while industry partnerships are vital, they cannot replace the role of government. “Industry would not replace what the government has done in the past and should do in terms of fundamental research,” he said. Still, he acknowledged the importance of collaboration with industry partners. “We are … thinking about how we can bolster that given what’s happening — not so much to replace but to augment the uncertainty that’s happening now.”
One of the most inspired parts of the conversation came when DesRoches was asked about scrutiny of diversity initiatives. He made clear that Rice will not step back from its commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive academic community while adhering to the law.
“We’ve been very clear … that recruiting a diverse and outstanding population of students is a critical part of the mission,” he said. “For us, diversity means everything — obviously racial and gender diversity but also students from rural areas, in the city, military veterans, nontraditional students.”
DesRoches also emphasized the unique nature of the Rice experience, where 72% of students live on campus and learning often happens outside the classroom. “Much of the learning happens because the students are together,” he said. “And so for us, having a diverse student body, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, is a core part of the mission of the university and something that we will not move away from.”
When asked about how he navigates the increasingly complex and often contentious landscape of higher education leadership, DesRoches returned to his personal story. “It’s certainly a challenging time. I wouldn’t replace this for anything. I really feel blessed to be able to be in this role at Rice,” he said. “Being able to go to Berkeley as an undergraduate and get a Ph.D. changed [my family’s] lives. And so I want to be able to bring that to students.”
In that mission, he sees purpose and resilience. “Every time we’re focused on a challenge, I think about the mission of the university, which is bringing in these exceptionally young kids who are talented and making sure they have everything they need to succeed. It’s easy to get distracted with what’s happening now, but we always lean into the values of the university and the important mission that we have.”