by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Rice University, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
Looking at the entering class at Rice, 7% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $10,792 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $5,188, or about 94.3% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Looking at all undergraduates at Rice, freshmen included, 6% rely on federal student loans toward their education, with a mean of $6,202 per year. This works out to 19.5% above the $5,188 typical freshmen borrow.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,404 after two years and $24,808 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 6% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,202 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 296 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,835,929 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Rice carry a median federal debt of $9,716 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,716 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,784 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at Rice.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,114 |
| 25th percentile | $5,784 |
| 75th percentile | $18,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,763 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Rice.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Rice.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 245 | $30,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 186 | $35,338 |
| Did not complete | 59 | $22,474 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $420.21/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Rice.
Any-Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 233 | — |
| No Stafford loan | 12 | — |
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 172 | $34,450 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 73 | $24,537 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Rice.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Rice is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 0.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 523 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,500 |
| Middle income | $11,192 |
| High income | $9,804 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,893 |
| Continuing-generation students | $10,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Rice.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Did You Know?
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.