Rice #4 in Kiplinger's best value schools, again

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>Rice remains among nation's top 5 best-value private schools in new Kiplinger ranking</p>

<p>For the third year in a row, Rice University is No. 4 on the list of best values in private colleges ranked by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.</p>

<p>The rankings for 2010-11, announced today, measure academic quality and affordability. The magazine bases two-thirds of a school's ranking on academic excellence.</p>

<p>Princeton, Yale and Caltech were the top three schools on the list, and Duke University rounded out the top five.</p>

<p>To measure academic quality, Kiplinger looked at the percentage of applicants offered admission; percentage of the freshman class that scored 600 or higher on the verbal and math SATs or 24 or higher on the ACT; student-faculty ratio; and percentage of freshmen who earned a bachelor's degree within four or five years.</p>

<p>Financial measures included total cost (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated book expenses); cost after need-based aid is subtracted; percentage of the average financial aid package that came from grants or scholarships; cost after non-need-based aid is subtracted; percentage of all undergraduates without need who received non-need-based aid; and average debt at graduation (based on graduates who took out education loans).</p>

<p>Kiplinger noted that Rice's total annual cost of $46,321 "runs $6,000 to $7,000 less than that of many of its counterparts, including Duke, Stanford and Vanderbilt." The magazine pointed out that Rice reduces that cost by more than half for students who qualify for need-based aid, and it quoted President David Leebron, who noted Rice's "special, historic commitment to be an affordable university."</p>

<p>Consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 research universities by U.S. News and World Report, Rice admits students regardless of their ability to pay and provides financial-aid packages that meet 100 percent of their demonstrated need. For the past two academic years, freshmen who qualify for need-based aid and whose family annual income is $80,000 or less have not been required to take out loans to pay for their education. And Rice has placed a $10,000 limit on loans in financial aid packages for need-eligible incoming freshmen for their four undergraduate years.</p>

<p>"With the lowest sticker price of our top-25-ranked universities, along with generous need-based and merit-based aid, Rice lives up to its reputation for affordability," Kiplinger wrote.</p>

<p>The magazine also spotlighted Rice in a separate article titled "Small School, Big Ambitions." "This small, top-flight institution goes head-to-head with MIT for its science and engineering programs and with Juilliard for music," Kiplinger wrote. "It boasts a student-faculty ratio of 5-to-1, second only to Caltech. The campus, a mix of Mediterranean-Byzantine buildings (translation: lots of brick and archways), enjoys a prime location near several top medical centers and Houston's world-class museum district. Rice draws -- and keeps -- outstanding students: 72 percent of this year's freshmen ranked in the top 5 percent of their high school class, and 93 percent of students stick around to graduate."</p>

<p>For the complete list of Kiplinger's rankings and the feature article on Rice, go to [url=<a href="http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/%5DKiplinger.com%5B/url"&gt;http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/]Kiplinger.com[/url&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p>

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<p>Excellent news once again.</p>

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<p>Three years in a row!!! And that spotlight is worth repeating …</p>

<p>"The magazine also spotlighted Rice in a separate article titled “Small School, Big Ambitions.” “This small, top-flight institution goes head-to-head with MIT for its science and engineering programs and with Juilliard for music,” Kiplinger wrote. “It boasts a student-faculty ratio of 5-to-1, second only to Caltech. The campus, a mix of Mediterranean-Byzantine buildings (translation: lots of brick and archways), enjoys a prime location near several top medical centers and Houston’s world-class museum district. Rice draws – and keeps – outstanding students: 72 percent of this year’s freshmen ranked in the top 5 percent of their high school class, and 93 percent of students stick around to graduate.”</p>

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<p>We also were named #1 for Quality of Life again which is great.</p>

<p>“This small, top-flight institution goes head-to-head with MIT for its science and engineering programs and with Juilliard for music,” </p>

<p>Nice quote. Thanks for the post, Ottoline!</p>

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<p>Head-to-head with MIT? Really???</p>

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<p>Not to mention that Rice’s Sociology Department is stellar – plus some outstanding poli sci and and history profs who reach out to students … and all in all, it makes sense that
Rice has held on to the #4 spot again.</p>

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<p>With 15% per less cost, Rice is on par with other top private schools. So, academic wise, Rice is 15% weaker?</p>

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<p>HC: I’ll take your comment 15% seriously … and based on my previous posts, it’s pretty simple to figure out where I stand when it comes to getting a Rice education.</p>

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<p>HillCountry - what??</p>

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<p>I read it as meaning that Rice is on par with other top private schools AND IN ADDITION, it costs 15% less (not that it’s on par since it costs less).</p>

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<p>^What HillCountry probably meant was that its lower cost offsets academic weakness, thereby making it on par with the other best buy schools. I had not thought of that interpretation.</p>

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<p>Maybe after all my jumping up and down, it was just meant as a friendly tease. In any case, I’m really proud of the ranking. Thanks, Kiplinger’s …</p>

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<p>Im not sure what the comment meant. I was thinking what SaintSaens said, but had no idea where that came from</p>

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<p>While I am thrilled to see that Rice remains atop the “best value” schools, it seems that the $ gap is narrowing. It used to be about 10K cheaper than comparable schools. I don’t know what other school’s tuition increases have been, but when my s started in 2004, base tuition was $20,300 plus the other fees, and they no longer capped tuition for the 4 yrs the student was there. They stopped that that year, IIRC, much to our chagrin. Base tuition this year (not including fees) is $31,400</p>

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<p>To give you a comparison, the tuition at Wash U in St Louis this year is #39,400, so the price differential is still significant.</p>

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<p>Good point, blackeyedsusan. Its just that the gap is narrowing-- form $10k to 7-8K, and corrsepondingly, with higher overall costs, the percent difference is smaller too :(</p>

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<p>The endowment took a hit, and as we subsidize the price I would expect that the price would go up.</p>

<p>Hopefully this is temporary.</p>