Rhode Island Colleges: Tuition, Debt & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

Median graduate debt is $13,000 (-3.2% below the U.S. median of $13,432). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #22 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank) (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Rhode Island are $70,004, about +28.9% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 22.6% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 87.9% (-65.3 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 83.6% vs a U.S. median of 76.3%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 2.6% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 85.8% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Rhode Island ranks earnings #1 and employment proxy #49 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Brown University (65.9%), Rhode Island School of Design (64.7%), Johnson & Wales University-Providence (56.8%), Johnson & Wales University-Online (56.8%), Providence College (22.7%), Salve Regina University (22.6%), Bryant University (19.6%), University of Rhode Island (19.3%), Roger Williams University (18.6%), Rhode Island College (9.4%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Rhode Island, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $71,620 (9 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in Rhode Island is 66.5% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 121,304 residents with some college but no credential in Rhode Island (YoY change 1.60%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.