About ten years ago, I contacted Rice to see about returning as an old guy to get a new degree.
They assigned me a counselor with whom I was in contact weekly for several months. That counselor told me then that Rice was implementing policies that said no student would graduate with student loan debt.
I went there tuition-free in the 80s and never had to go into debt for books or anything else. Student focus is a big part of what Rice is.