Top colleges in Rhode Island by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Rhode Island with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Brown University leads this list at $327,388 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Brown University
10 Yr. ROI
$327,388
Bryant University
10 Yr. ROI
$263,614
University of Rhode Island
10 Yr. ROI
$229,183
Top 10 Top colleges in Rhode Island by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brown University | RI | Private nonprofit | 7,226 | $327,388 | Grad 95.6% · Net $26,976 |
| 2 | Bryant University | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,194 | $263,614 | Grad 81.0% · Net $39,186 |
| 3 | University of Rhode Island | RI | Public | 13,381 | $229,183 | Grad 72.3% · Net $22,469 |
| 4 | Rhode Island College | RI | Public | 5,049 | $219,446 | Grad 44.7% · Net $10,959 |
| 5 | Providence College | RI | Private nonprofit | 4,229 | $166,574 | Grad 86.4% · Net $49,594 |
| 6 | Salve Regina University | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,121 | $160,026 | Grad 72.9% · Net $36,528 |
| 7 | Roger Williams University | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,946 | $155,819 | Grad 67.4% · Net $37,645 |
| 8 | Johnson & Wales University-Online | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,202 | $137,334 | Grad 0.0% · Net $22,071 |
| 9 | Johnson & Wales University-Providence | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,868 | $97,928 | Grad 49.4% · Net $29,952 |
| 10 | Rhode Island School of Design | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,084 | $32,666 | Grad 91.7% · Net $50,513 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; all 10 qualifying campuses are shown.
- Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.