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 $301,423 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Brown University
10 Yr. ROI
$301,423
University of Rhode Island
10 Yr. ROI
$214,230
Bryant University
10 Yr. ROI
$205,197
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 | $301,423 | Grad 95.7% · Net $25,184 |
| 2 | University of Rhode Island | RI | Public | 13,381 | $214,230 | Grad 73.3% · Net $21,440 |
| 3 | Bryant University | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,194 | $205,197 | Grad 79.8% · Net $41,219 |
| 4 | Rhode Island College | RI | Public | 5,049 | $201,708 | Grad 48.1% · Net $9,478 |
| 5 | Providence College | RI | Private nonprofit | 4,229 | $137,997 | Grad 85.8% · Net $48,523 |
| 6 | Salve Regina University | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,121 | $124,768 | Grad 76.9% · Net $36,967 |
| 7 | Roger Williams University | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,946 | $120,852 | Grad 68.7% · Net $37,999 |
| 8 | Johnson & Wales University-Online | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,202 | $97,726 | Grad 0.0% · Net $20,252 |
| 9 | Johnson & Wales University-Providence | RI | Private nonprofit | 3,868 | $43,851 | Grad 55.4% · Net $31,027 |
| 10 | Rhode Island School of Design | RI | Private nonprofit | 2,084 | $36,523 | Grad 88.8% · Net $50,507 |
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.