1. How can I get involved on campus?
There are many different ways to get involved on campus, including through your own residential college and different clubs and organizations. For starters, you can check out the Rice Student Activities website. This will direct you to the RPC, club sports, and the SA. Also see below:
The Student Activities website also hosts a list of all Rice University clubs. The Office of Multicultural Affairs also offers a list of multicultural student organizations.
2. What opportunities are there for volunteering?
Check out the Community Involvement Center to investigate places that are open to and encourage participation by Rice students. CIC programs include: alternative break service trips, America Reads tutoring program, international service projects, Outreach Day (following O-Week), Urban Immersion, and others.
3. What construction will be going on in the future and how will it affect us?
There is a myriad of construction programs going on starting in the summer of 2007 and continuing through several years following. Projects include: McMurtry College, an expansion to the parking lot near Del Butcher, the Pavilion next to Fondren, a collaborative research center across the street from Rice, a power plant near the soccer stadium, and a child care center. More information about upcoming projects and updates can be found at the following:
Rice News summary of construction plans (focusing on projects during summer of 2007)
Construction News, Updates, and Webcams
Full list of campus projects and timelines
4. What is the Vision for the Second Century?
The Vision for the Second Century is a comprehensive and far reaching plan for Rice University during the 21st century. It involves increasing our commitment to research, better equip students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to make an impact in the world, and strengthening undergraduate and graduate programs to continue to recruit high caliber students.
A full overview of the Vision for the Second Century and its ten points
5. What’s the deal with the meal plan?
The meal plan is designed with one all-inclusive option for on-campus students and two part-time meal options for off-campus students. The reasoning behind the limited options has to do with changes that were implemented back in the 2002-2003 school year. The following is an excerpt from an interview that was conducted at that time:
The most significant changes in on-campus meal plans over the last few years have been:
- movement away from modified à la carte pricing schemes to per meal and then per semester pricing. The primary reason for this has been speed of service at lunch during the week. Rice's culture is such that most of the campus community eats at noon. This concentration of activity creates a situation where eateries are extremely over utilized for a short period of time. À la carte pricing slowed lines to the degree that in some colleges it took 45 minutes to get from the point of entry through the servery and to a seat.
- separation of student center food operations from the meal plan. This was done to help keep the price of the meal plan at the lowest possible level. The introduction of chefs in the college kitchens helped this succeed as student satisfaction improved to the degree that it was no longer more desirable to eat meals outside the college.
Another major change with the 2002-03 meal plan was that first year students were no longer required to purchase a larger plan than returning students.
What has precipitated most of the changes? What has been the trend with meal plan prices/individual meal prices? Other issues that precipitated meal plan changes were the cost and effectiveness of the cashiering staff and the cost and commitment necessary to maintain the access control system. Because of the high number of service points for the size of Rice's dining population, the number of workers skilled enough to operate the meal plan accounting system reduced the resources available for other activities. The labor investment trade-off was to reduce the complexity of the access system and to apply the savings to employing more skilled, and therefore more expensive, culinary staff. Another factor influencing the change was creating a living experience where students could access dining in such a manner that managing a food budget would not be necessary. An additional benefit was improving nutrition by discouraging students from missing a meal due to financial reasons.
Through the mid 1990's, the price of the largest meal plan increased annually in $100.00 increments. The problem with this practice was that increases were not tied to changes in key input factors such as food and labor or to changing student expectations. Beginning in the late 90's, efforts were made to price the meal plan so it could support student preferences, as opposed to the past practice of being as productive as possible with the fixed annual increase.
The most significant change in guest meal pricing was made in 2002-03. Prior to this time, guest meal prices were kept at an artificially low level to encourage off-campus students to return to campus to participate in college activities, particularly those associated with meal times. While the off-campus meal plan continues with this in mind, guest meal prices have increased to a level closer to market in response to rapidly increasing numbers of non-college members coming to the colleges for meals, but not for college activities. Housing and Dining is actively planning on looking into a future iteration of meal plans for our University Community.
This information comes courtesy of: Frank Rodriguez Rice University Director of Business and Facilities Housing and Dining
More information about the meal plan
6. Are they ever going to renovate the South colleges?
The answer is yes. Definitive plans are in development and will be more finalized by November of this year. Tentative plans include renovating the Baker college eating facilities and building a servery shared by Will Rice, Sid Rich, and Lovett colleges.
7. When can I officially park at the college lots?
Students acquire parking places in their college parking lots through college jacks. Depending on their status, students may also purchase parking in one of several different lots on campus. Students who purchase their permits after July 1 may start parking in their permitted lots at that time.
More information on where student can park
8. What are the shuttle times?
Shuttle times on the inner loop run from 6 am to 7 pm, with a frequency of 5-10 minutes depending on the time of day. There is a complete list of shuttle times, including that for Greenbriar Lot, the Texas Medical Center, and the Graduate Apartments.
9. Why is the tuition increase necessary?
According to Vice President of Enrollment Chris Munoz, the tuition increase of 7.1% for the 2007-2008 school year (to $28,430 for all incoming freshmen) is necessary to maintain (and upgrade) the quality of the university. President David Leebron adds that tuition increases are required to cover rising costs of education and research, including the increasing size of the student body (up 30%) and a construction program that will cost over $600 million over the next five years. Rice is taking steps to help students with debt by implementing several policies, including limiting debt for families with an annual income of over $60,000 per year to $14,525 over four years. It should be noted that, despite the tuition increase, Rice is still considerably less expensive than most of its peer schools.
Thresher Article on tuition increase
