New Princeton Review book ranks Rice No. 12 for return on education investment

A new guidebook published by the Princeton Review ranks Rice University No. 12 among the top 50 “Colleges That Pay You Back” on the basis of academic quality, college cost and postcollege income potential.

The 2015 edition of “Colleges That Pay You Back: The 200 Best Value Colleges and What It Takes To Get In” uses data collected in 2013-14 from the Princeton Review’s surveys of administrators and students at 650 colleges along with surveys of alumni conducted by PayScale.com through April 2014. The editors developed a return-on-education rating that measures academics, cost, financial aid, student debt, graduation rates, alumni salaries, job satisfaction and other factors.

Rice, one of 200 schools profiled in the book, is noted as having a diverse community; residential colleges with their own histories, traditions and system of self-governance; and an environment where academics are well-integrated into student culture. Citing Rice’s “terrific financial aid policy,” the editors wrote that with tuition thousands of dollars lower than Ivy League and other peer institutions, “Rice walks the walk of keeping the highest caliber of education affordable for all.”

According to the guidebook, the typical Rice graduate has a starting salary of $55,700, and 49 percent of alumni report that their job has a “great deal of meaning.”

Rice is also ranked No. 18 for best financial aid, No. 21 for best career placement and No. 20 for “Colleges That Pay You Back Without Need-Based Aid.”

For more info on the rankings, visit www.princetonreview.com/colleges-pay-you-back.