If tuition were free again at Rice?

BelleNiente
Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:51:54 +0000

As a student who has never lived in Texas or the Southwest, I hadn’t heard of Rice until I began my college search. And once I had, I still couldn’t find anything relatively standout about the university that made it worth further research. (I, like crazymomster, am focusing on schools that offer significant NMSF/NMF scholarships.)

If we were to consider Emory a peer school, there are few fundamental differences that standout between the two for someone who hasn’t researched in depth. Both are located in large cities in the southern half of the U.S., both have birds for mascots, decent financial aid, and both are ranked in the Top 20 by U.S. News.

Schools that offer free or reduced tuition like Olin, Deep Springs, Cooper Union, and Berea are often brought up simply for their lesser cost. A school of Rice’s caliber, with a student body of 3,000 (I pretty sure that’s twice the size of the other schools I just named), and such a range of majors would really make waves and gain attention. Not to mention, it’d be one aspect of the university that someone such as myself would be deeply aware of. It could be a game changer, and would really encourage the diversity that colleges seem to strive for, because of the definitively reduced sticker shock.