Rice a best buy in 2012 Fiske college guide

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Rice University is one of 25 private ”best buy” schools in the 2012 edition of Fiske Guide to Colleges.

Geared toward parents, counselors and college-bound students, the guide uses high academic rating, inexpensive or moderate price and the quality of student life on campus as criteria for its best buys. All of the guide’s best-buy schools, including 24 public institutions, fall into the inexpensive or moderate price category, and most have four- or five-star academic ratings.

The guide describes Rice as ”one of the few elite private colleges that keeps tuition relatively affordable” and notes that Rice ”has stayed true to its mission of providing unsurpassed programs in science, engineering, the arts and humanities — with a price tag families can afford.” The guide reports that ”Rice costs thousands of dollars less than most other selective, private universities.”

According to anonymous sophomores quoted in the guide, ”Students here are very self-motivated” and ”Rice puts a lot of trust and responsibility on its students.” The guide also points out that faculty members receive high marks and full professors often teach freshmen. The guide cites the ”terrific academic experience” and notes that ”Rice diplomas open doors to the corporate world.”

Rice admits students regardless of their ability to pay and provides financial-aid packages that meet 100 percent of students’ demonstrated need. Since 2009, entering freshmen from families with incomes of up to $80,000 have not had to take out loans, and Rice has limited loans to no more than $10,000 in financial-aid packages for need-eligible incoming freshmen for their four undergraduate years.

Earlier this year, the Princeton Review also picked Rice as one of the nation’s best-value schools.