"Rice University is raising the annual income threshold for need-based financial aid to $80,000 a year, up from $60,000, in response to the state of the U.S. economy," the Houston Business Journal reports. "Now, incoming freshman from qualifying households will not have to take out any loans to pay for college. Almost 18 percent of Rice’s 2008 incoming freshmen came from such households. Nearly 38 percent of the current freshman class received some sort of institutional need-based aid."