According to College Navigator, Rhode Island has two public universities and 10 private non-profit colleges.
College Board estimates that in-state tuition and fees averaged $14,100 for Rhode Island residents during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Full-time undergraduate students from the U.S. frequently qualify for financial aid. The average amount was $14,800 during 2020-2021, and some students received more.
This list features some of the best brick-and-mortar schools in Rhode Island. Each school featured is a nonprofit, accredited institution — either public or private — with a high standard of academic quality for post-secondary institutions. We included liberal arts colleges and research universities as well as small, midsize, and large institutions. Next, we compared this comprehensive list to a list of aggregated college rankings from reputable publications like the U.S. News & World Report among others to simplify a student’s college search. We pored through these rankings so students don’t have to.
The colleges on our list are accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), a reputable organization that examines the objectives, quality, and overall effectiveness of education programs in the northeastern United States.
We evaluated each school on tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, and reputation as well as the student resources provided for on-campus students. Then we calculated the Intelligent Score on a scale of 0 to 100. Read more about our ranking methodology.
When choosing a college and degree program, you should consider how the degree will be useful in the future job market. As of October 2021, USA Facts lists education and health services; trade, transportation, and utilities; professional and business services; government; and goods-producing as the five industries that employ the most people in Rhode Island.
Many of these schools offer degrees that are highly relevant to Rhode Island’s job market. The fastest growing occupations in the state that require a bachelor’s degree are materials engineers, religious workers, data scientists, information security analysts, and logisticians.
For a sense of the job opportunities that are available in Rhode Island, here are a few of the companies and organizations that rank among the state’s 150 largest employers: Lifespan Finance, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, and CVS Health Corporation. Of course, there are many other companies that employ 1,000 or more people.
While researching Rhode Island’s colleges, make sure you understand what financial aid is available. Here are some state and federal resources that help with finding and applying for grants, scholarships, and other financial aid opportunities.