About
William Marsh Rice University, also known as Rice University, is a private research university in Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, it spans 300 acres. The university consists of eight constituent schools in the fields of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences, and social sciences.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 4.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 134 Title IV programs, 13 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 121 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing13 · 9.7%
- No Data121 · 90.3%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Action history · 3
- Jun 2023Heightened Monitoring or Focused ReviewSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Jun 2022Heightened Monitoring or Focused ReviewSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
- Apr 2018Approved for Distance EducationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 1,070 students received $6.8M in Pell grants, alongside $27.6M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 453 borrowers who entered repayment, 0 (0.0%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Rice
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 9
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus108
- Non-campus1
- Public property1
Includes 26 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Data quality: 2 reports were later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Rice vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Rice selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectRice University | 95% | — | 8,961 | $12,640 | R1 Research |
Boston University | 89% | 11.1% | 37,737 | $26,996 | R1 Research |
Brown University | 96% | 5.4% | 11,956 | $26,572 | R1 Research |
California Institute of Technology | 94% | 2.6% | 2,430 | $18,902 | R1 Research |
Carnegie Mellon University | 94% | 11.7% | 15,888 | $31,671 | R1 Research |
Columbia University in the City of New York | 96% | 4.0% | 35,173 | $20,148 | R1 Research |
Cornell University | 95% | 8.8% | 26,793 | $32,337 | R1 Research |
Dartmouth College | 96% | 5.4% | 6,938 | $28,619 | R1 Research |
Duke University | 97% | 5.7% | 17,499 | $34,454 | R1 Research |
Emory University | 91% | 10.6% | 15,175 | $23,911 | R1 Research |
Harvard University | 98% | 3.6% | 30,259 | $16,816 | R1 Research |
Johns Hopkins University | 94% | 6.4% | 30,210 | $18,161 | R1 Research |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 96% | 4.5% | 11,886 | $19,813 | R1 Research |
New York University | 88% | 9.2% | 56,832 | $35,035 | R1 Research |
Northwestern University | 95% | 7.7% | 23,856 | $27,143 | R1 Research |
Princeton University | 98% | 4.6% | 9,137 | $10,555 | R1 Research |
Stanford University | 92% | 3.6% | 18,625 | $12,136 | R1 Research |
Tufts University | 94% | 11.5% | 13,599 | $35,435 | R1 Research |
University of Chicago | 96% | 4.5% | 18,566 | $18,967 | R1 Research |
University of Notre Dame | 95% | 11.3% | 13,042 | $27,823 | R1 Research |
University of Pennsylvania | 97% | 5.4% | 29,109 | $31,229 | R1 Research |
University of Southern California | 92% | 9.8% | 46,566 | $31,927 | R1 Research |
Vanderbilt University | 94% | 5.9% | 13,575 | $19,040 | R1 Research |
Washington University in St Louis | 94% | 12.1% | 16,357 | $22,117 | R1 Research |
Yale University | 96% | 3.9% | 15,564 | $27,818 | R1 Research |
| Peer group median | 95% | 5.8% | 16,357 | $26,572 |
Rice Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The Institutional Research and Analytics team is dedicated to supporting Rice University’s data needs, aiding stakeholders in strategic decision-making and providing institutional data and analyses to ensure accurate reporting to external organizations.
Visit IR office page- Arun Chandran NatarajanAssociate Provost for Institutional Research and Effectiveness
- Diane Waryas HugheyExecutive Director of Institutional Effectiveness
- Christy WittExecutive Director of Institutional Research and Analytics
- Joseph LynchInstitutional Research Analyst III
- Katie StephensonInstitutional Research Analyst III
- Megan YoskoInstitutional Research Analyst II
Common Data Set (17)
The institution's official annual Common Data Set publications — the most detailed reference for enrollment, admissions, and outcomes.
Reports & documents (5)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
- DashboardDashboardideas.rice.edu
- Data definitionCommon Data SetThe Common Data Set page at Rice University is part of a collaborative initiative to enhance the accuracy and quality of higher education data for students transitioning to undergraduate programs. It provides standardized data definitions for comparable analysis across institutions, with data guided by the U.S. Department of Education’s higher education surveys. The page includes downloadable Common Data Sets from 2008 to 2024.ideas.rice.edu
- DFR reportIPEDS Data Feedback Report 20242024nces.ed.gov
- FactbookRice at a GlanceThis page provides a snapshot of Rice University’s institutional data highlighting key areas such as admissions, student enrollment, degrees awarded, faculty and staff, and research activity. It aims to give an overview of the university's performance and data metrics.ideas.rice.edu
- Strategic planMomentous2024Rice University has launched 'Momentous', a strategic plan with a bold commitment to become the premier university in the field of teaching and research. The plan emphasizes the pursuit of unparalleled excellence through premier teaching, premier research, and fostering a culture of responsibility and empowerment on campus. With a ten-year horizon, the plan seeks to lead innovations in health, create sustainable futures, and build thriving urban communities by leveraging Rice's unique interdisciplinary approach and commitment to humanity.momentous.rice.edu
Notable alumni of Rice (30)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Howard HughesBusiness
- Alberto GonzalesPolitics
- Josh EarnestPolitics
- John KlinePolitics
- Annise ParkerPolitics
- Tim LeagueBusiness
- Peggy WhitsonScience and Technology
- Lance BerkmanSports
- Jim BridenstinePolitics
- Glenn YoungkinPolitics
- Jo Ling KentJournalism
- Larry McMurtryLiterature
Frequently asked questions about Rice University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Rice.
What is the graduation rate at Rice University?
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