Frequently Asked Questions

The online application is available here. Payment must be made at the time the application is submitted. We accept payment by credit card. Applications should be submitted by the application deadline.

The Rice University Foreign Language Program offers non-credit classes in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Progressive levels of each language are offered in evening classes throughout the year.

Four sessions of weekday evening classes are offered yearly. The winter, spring, summer and fall sessions are eight weeks long with three hours of class per week.

$490 per eight-week session (3 hours weekly) in 2024. This will increase to $500 in 2025.

A discount of $30 per eight-week session is available only for continuing Language Programs students re-enrolling within a year, provided the application and payment are received by the discount deadline. Returning students applying after the discount deadline will pay full tuition. There are no discounts for first-time students.

Course fees will be refunded in full if the class is cancelled or if a student cancels a registration before the application deadline. All refund requests must be submitted in writing to fl@rice.edu. See the calendar.

If cancellation is made after the application deadline but before 5:00 p.m. on the last business day before the session begins, a $30 processing fee will be deducted from the refund. Students withdrawing before the fourth class meeting will receive a refund of one-third of the course fee. There is no refund for any student withdrawing after the fourth class meeting.

Refunds will be processed as credits to the accounts from which they were paid and may not appear as a credit until the following statement. Refunds for enrollments paid by check take up to four weeks to be processed. There is a $30 charge for any check returned for insufficient funds.

If you are enrolling in Spanish or French and are not a beginner, you must take the placement test. See the calendar for scheduled test dates. Non-beginning students of other languages will be contacted by the instructor for a phone placement interview the week before classes begin. No testing is necessary for beginning students or returning students enrolling in the same language.

The Language Programs office is located on the second floor of the Anderson-Clarke Center, the three-story building on the left as you come in Entrance 8 at the intersection of University Boulevard and Stockton Drive. It is building #74 on the campus map.

All Foreign Language classes meet in the Anderson-Clarke Center. Please arrive a few minutes early on the first day of class to check in and receive your room assignment and parking card.

A parking tag and card will be provided on the first day of class. Parking is available in West Lot 4, adjacent to the Anderson-Clarke Center, which can be accessed using Entrance 8 at the intersection of University Boulevard and Stockton Drive. On placement testing days and the first day of each session, the parking gates will be open 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. See Parking Information for more details.

The program is designed for adults. Persons applying for these classes must have graduated from secondary school.

Students do not receive academic credit for language classes, but will receive a certificate with 2.4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for satisfactory completion of each eight-week course.

Classes meet either Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:45-7:15 p.m. or 7:30-9 p.m.

Students will be notified by email regarding their schedule by the last business day before classes begin.

Students will receive a list of require books by email along with the class schedule. Books may be purchased online or at the Rice University Bookstore, located in the Rice Memorial Center.

The Foreign Language Program offers small group classes, averaging twelve students per class.