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Isn't that maximum debt for <em>student</em> loans only?
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Yes, but unlike many other schools, Rice doesn't package aid with PLUS parental loans, and pretend that that is "financial aid"! If you look at the FA package examples, they are made up of work/study, student loans, and grants or scholarships up to the EFC. So parents pay their EFCs, but there is no gap, and the PLUS loans are not part of the FA package. Now, that doesn't mean that parents can't take on some PLUS loans to meet their EFC if they want to,(or home equity loans, or sell a kidney, or do a PHARMACO study or whatever) - but at least they are not packaged as part of the FA portion!And also, any outside scholarships reduce the loan/work/study portion of FA package. So it's still a pretty good deal. (okay, now I'm getting impatient! We are ready to make the BIG decision now - just need those blasted financial aid packages! :( )</p>
<p>anxiousmom: Settle down now. Let's not have an anxiousmom anxiety attack! Hope it works out well. You obviously think Rice is the best fit. Think you should just be playing the Jeopardy song while you wait by the mail box each day?</p>
<p>I was feeling anxious and decided to call the financial aid office...was connected to a counselor who pulled my S up on computer...she gave me a rough estimate over the phone. Not that they need their lines bombarded, but it truely gave me a sense of the ball park we'd be in and whether or not we should continue to consider Rice.</p>
<p>And - back to the Houston is so cheap thought - while many cost of living factors are cheaper in the south the one thing that is very expensive in Texas is electricity...the costs have risen drastically over the last few years here. Our electric bill is now consistently over $500 in the summer (with thermastat set at 80) - was close to $700 in January (modest 2700 sq ft home with energy conscious family). If you look at the kw/hr charges in Texas, you can believe that the college has to pay this bill somehow too - and I'm sure the students aren't really good at shuting doors, turning off lights and electronics, etc. If my bill is 3-4 times higher than a comperable home up north or out east (we've lived there too), than I'd bet that Rice's cost of electricity is far higher than the eastern schools. Not the only deciding factor, but just goes to show there's alot more variables in costs of operating than we'd assume.</p>
<p>momof07 - you need an energy retrofit!!!!! We pay a max of $180 in the summer, and that includes water, wastewater, garbage pickup, street-cleaning etc. We keep the thermostat at 78, and the A/C unit is 8 years old, so not the most energy efficient by far. Our energy department offers free/low-cost loans for energy audits and retrofitting. Either you have a mansion, or your system is leaking like crazy...
edit: I see that you don't have a mansion, but just a nice big home. We have 1900 square feet which is comfortable for us, but our electric plus all the water, etc. bill is about $100 this time of year... yep, you need some serious insulation and an energy overhaul!</p>
<p>ahh memories..I remember living in Houston in the 80's and have neighbors who paid 500 per month for electricity in the summer. Wonder what they must pay now...We chose to fry our children or rather climatize them.</p>
<p>So my situation is comperable to a dorm room...right!?!</p>
<p>I guess we've hijacked this thread...I do need a retrofit! But heater/ac unit is new. Started buying new efficient light bulbs and will put solar screens on windows before summer. Only other thing to do is put down more insulation - short of cutting power to the house!!</p>
<p>morningbird, since you are talking about the students who pay the full price, you need to realize that they are in the minority. hence, why discuss dollar values that a given student <em>probably</em> won't pay? for example, johns hopkins would have been 43k/year for me and Rice is 15k/year. drawing the limited conclusions you can based on tuition numbers alone is an inaccurate way to approach the issue. it's not just that the values become almost irrelevant, but that our thoughts about tuition increases, comparisons, and data-searching are not fruitful.</p>
<p>we have not been treating it as half. we have been talking about it, and people still wish to talk about it, as if nearly everyone pays the full price. there is some ranking that shows the debt students graduate. that is much better of an indicator than the tuition price.</p>
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<li>I'm one of Jone College's two College Computing Associates (CCA). We are generally available to help students in our college with computer problems/questions. The great thing is that we are available when no other IT rep will be, late at night, when student are up and having problems with their computers.</li>
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