Tuition rises 5 percent due to endowment losses

By Jocelyn Wright     2/25/10 6:00pm

In keeping with historical trends, Rice will once more increase next year's tuition. While the 2009-10 tuition sits at $31,430, next year's amount will jump 5.4 percent to $33,120 to compensate for endowment losses. This increase in tuition will be accompanied by a 16 percent increase in the financial aid budget, Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins said.

Room and board has also increased for 2010-11 from $11,230 to $11,750. The total charge for entering students, which includes tuition, fees, and housing, will be approximately $48,500.

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The tuition increase will apply to all students enrolled at Rice next year.

In addition to increasing the financial aid budget to $57 million from a little more than $45 million last year, Rice will continue to honor its financial aid policies from previous years for current and incoming students. Those with family incomes below $80,000 have aid packages that do not include loans, and the total amount of loans other students can accumulate is capped at $10,000. Collins said 70 percent of entering students this year received some form of financial support. The admissions process for next year will continue to be need-blind.

Collins cited endowment losses as a factor in the decision to raise tuition.

"Rice raises tuition every year-as do most other schools-and it is especially important this year, given that our endowment losses are 18 percent," she said.

Over the past year, the endowment has dropped from $4.61 to $3.61 billion.

Rice's tuition increase is commensurate with those of peer institutions. Yale University announced a 4.8 percent rise in tuition and fees this year making the total cost of attending Yale $49,800, according to the Yale Daily News.

"The fact that we continue to maintain the kind of price differential with other schools is one sign of the importance of value in terms of Rice's mode of operations," Collins said. "Particularly in these tight times we could have made the decision that we've got to close the gap with tuition and we didn't do that."

In order to keep tuition costs low, at least one student believes the university should prioritize how it spends money.

"I understand that it costs a lot of money, especially in these times, to run Rice University and keep the quality at a set level while certain expenditures go up, but I think some of the places they're spending money are maybe a little bit mixed up," Wiess College sophomore David Wimmer said. "I don't really know anything about exactly where our budgets going, but I would rather keep tuition low than have had the Rec Center built."

Collins said several other universities, such as Williams College, were no longer able to honor their financial aid policies from previous years. She said this might help increase Rice's "Best Value" college ranking, which, in the Princeton Review, has decreased from first to seventh over the past three years.

"Other schools are backing off of their no-loan policies and so the fact that we're staying the course in terms of our financial aid policy will be a huge benefit," Collins said.

Tuition goes into the unrestricted or general fund, which supports aspects of the university ranging from athletics to financial aid to activities arranged by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates. Collins said tuition does not cover the entire cost of services provided to each student by the university.

"In round numbers it's about $80,000 a year to support a student," Collins said. "Even someone who's paying the full price without financial aid is still getting a good deal.

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