Bingo. William Marsh Rice left his entire fortune (after a really fascinating story of his murder) to make the entity today known as Rice. Historically, tuition was free but limited to white only. As Wikipedia has it:

> The original charter of Rice Institute dictated that the university admit and educate, tuition-free, "the white inhabitants of Houston, and the state of Texas". In 1963, the governing board of Rice University filed a lawsuit to allow the university to modify its charter to admit students of all races and to charge tuition.

They also have massive amounts of real-estate and stock grants.