Rice University offers free tuition for students from families making less than $130,000

The new plan is titled The Rice Investment

Rice University has announced a new program that would offer free tuition or dramatically reduced tuition for students from middle-income families.

Under The Rice Investment program, undergraduate students from families with incomes between $65,000 and $130,000 are eligible to receive full tuition scholarships. Students with family incomes between $130,000 and $200,000 will receive scholarships covering half of their tuition or more.

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Students from families with incomes below $65,000 will not only get a full-tuition scholarship, but will also have all fees, room and board covered.

“This bold step reflects our founding principles,” Rice President David Leebron said in a press release. “When Rice opened its doors in 1912, we didn’t charge tuition. Rice changed its charter in 1965 to begin charging tuition, but immediately began offering scholarships to eligible students. This significantly builds on that legacy and on our commitment to make a Rice education accessible and affordable for students from all backgrounds."

The plan takes effect in fall 2019. You can read more about it here.

Rice is a private research university located in Houston.


About the Author:

Julie Moreno has worked in local television news for more than 25 years. She came to KSAT as a news producer in 2000. After producing thousands of newscasts, she transitioned to the digital team in 2015. She writes on a wide variety of topics from breaking news to trending stories and manages KSAT’s daily digital content strategy.