Houston, US · 21 months · class of 134
Rice Jones MBA: cost, salary and payback
24.1% of the Rice Jones class of 2025 went into energy, more than at any other school in our data, and as many into consulting, at a school median of $141,500.
Paid back after graduation in
5.0 years
Total cost $301,023 · 10-year NPV $102,892
| Tuition and fees, whole program | $160,878 |
| Living budget | $0 |
| Salary given up, 21 months | $157,500 |
| Summer internship earned | −$17,355 |
| Total cost | $301,023 |
| Salary after: median base salary | $141,500 |
| Signing bonus × share receiving it | $20,130 |
| 10-year net present value | $102,892 |
| Return on the cost (present values) | 35% |
US dollars at the ECB rate of the last update. Raises of 5% a year with the MBA and 3% without, discounted at 5%, before tax. The school publishes no living budget: the figure above is yours. How this is calculated.
Fees and budget read on October 13, 2026 · employment: Class of 2025 (MBA CSEA standard) · Built by Radif Partners · Method
- Tuition and fees
- $160,878
- Total cost, salary given up included
- n/a
- median base salary
- $141,500
- Payback, reference person
- not computable
The Rice full-time MBA at the Jones Graduate School of Business charges $158,232 in tuition for two years, the 2026-2027 rate counted twice, plus $2,646 of required fees; health insurance is extra unless waived. Rice publishes no current living budget for Houston on its business school pages, and the cost-of-attendance documents we found are several years old, so this page does not count one. Without it our model computes no total cost and no payback for the reference person earning $90,000, even though the salary is known. The class of 2025 reported a median base salary of $141,500, and 67.1% received a signing bonus at a median of $30,000. Scholarships change the price a great deal: the school says nearly all full-time students receive one, with an average award of $91,000, without saying whether that is per year or for the program. What sets Rice apart is energy: 24.1% of graduates joined the sector, with Chevron, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66 and CenterPoint Energy among the named employers.
The energy school
No other school in our data comes close on energy: the next largest share is 10%, at EDHEC. Energy jobs paid a median of $130,672, well below consulting at $190,000, which took the same share of the class. The two paths through Rice therefore lead to very different salaries: a candidate who wants an energy career should plan on the energy median, not the school-wide $141,500. Financial services took 14.9% at $172,500 and technology 16.1% at $137,500.
Almost everyone stays in the country, 97.6% of graduates, most of them in the Southwest region around Houston; that places Rice number 7 of 39 in our ranking for working in the United States. The school also reports that graduates with temporary work authorization earned a higher median than those with permanent authorization, a point worth knowing for international applicants.
Rice Jones: where the class went
Share of the class
24.1%
| Salary reported | $190,000 |
| Graduates, about | 32 |
| Payback with that salary | n/a |
Reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA.
A scholarship-heavy price
An average award of $91,000 would cover about 58% of the two-year tuition if it applies to the whole program, and the whole of it if the amount is annual. Either way, the list price overstates what most students pay, and the school considers every admitted student automatically. That makes the scholarship field of the calculator above the most important input on this page, together with the living budget you will have to estimate yourself for Houston.
What the calculator needs from you
Two numbers are missing from the school's side: a living budget and the award you are offered. The summer internship gives some of the cost back: the school reports an average of $6,942 a month for the class of 2026, which you can set against the months without salary. 71.3% of graduates seeking a job accepted an offer within three months; 54 of the 58 schools in our data that publish this rate report a higher one, so allow for a slower start. At $90,000 a year, the 21 months away alone cost about $157,500 in salary.
The salary you give up while you study
Salary given up, net of the internship
$157,500
| Gross salary not earned | $157,500 |
| Per month away | $7,500 |
Pension contributions and raises you would have had are not counted here.
Where Rice Jones stands in our rankings
- #7 of 39 · Working in the United States
Our fit score, reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA (method). Third-party rankings play no part in it. For reference, Rice Jones was ranked 38 in the FT Global MBA 2026.
What the Rice Jones MBA costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition, whole program | $158,232 |
| Mandatory fees | $2,646 |
| Living budget | not published |
Rice Jones employment report: Class of 2025
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median base salary | $141,500 |
| Signing bonus (median) | $30,000, received by 67.1% |
| Summer internship, per month (mean) | $6,942 |
| Graduates who accepted an offer within three months | 71.3% |
Rice Jones graduates by industry
| Industry, as the school names it | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting | 24.1% | $190,000 |
| Energy | 24.1% | $130,672 |
| Technology | 16.1% | $137,500 |
| Financial Services | 14.9% | $172,500 |
| Real Estate + Other | 5.7% | not published |
| Consumer Packaged Goods | 4.6% | not published |
| Healthcare (including products and services) | 3.4% | $116,300 |
| Manufacturing | 3.4% | not published |
| Non-Profit/Education | 3.4% | not published |
Where Rice Jones graduates went to work
| Region | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| US (US Mid-Atlantic + US Midwest + US Northeast + US South + US Southwest + US West) | 97.6% | not published |
| Asia | 1.1% | not published |
Rice Jones graduates by job function
| Function | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Finance/Accounting | 34.5% | $150,000 |
| Consulting | 26.4% | $190,000 |
| Other | 17.2% | $115,000 |
| General Management | 10.3% | $125,000 |
| Marketing/Sales | 9.2% | $140,000 |
| Information Technology | 2.3% | not published |
Employers named by Rice Jones
McKinsey & Company · Boston Consulting Group · Bain & Company · Deloitte · Infosys Consulting · Chevron · ExxonMobil · Phillips 66 · CenterPoint Energy · Dell Technologies · Amazon · Microsoft · JP Morgan Chase · Morgan Stanley · RBC Capital Markets · Barclays
Names only: the school gives no hire counts.
The Rice Jones class
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| International students | 37% |
| Women | 36% |
| Average years of work experience | 5.4 |
| GMAT average | 694 |
| Class size | 134 |
Not published by Rice Jones in the documents we read: a living budget for students. We leave these blank rather than fill them with an estimate.