Best Colleges in Rhode Island by ROI

Brown wins the scoreboard (96) and it is not close: $25,184 a year after aid, $93,487 median earnings ten years out, and the lowest median debt in the state at $11,428. The catch is the 5% admit rate, which makes Brown the answer for almost nobody who asks the question.

The school the data keeps pointing at instead is Bryant University (84). Its graduates post the second-highest earnings in Rhode Island, a median $90,008, and it admits 65% of applicants. You pay for that outcome ($41,219 a year after aid, median debt $26,849), but no other school in the state combines open-door odds with earnings anywhere near it.

For most in-state families, the University of Rhode Island (79) is, in our view, the sensible default: $21,440 net, 73% completion, $69,743 median earnings. Rhode Island College is the budget route at $9,478 a year, by far the cheapest in the state, but its 48% completion rate and $56,318 median earnings mean the low price buys a riskier outcome.

One number worth knowing before you fall for a brochure: Providence College graduates earn $87,054, third in the state, but at $48,523 a year after aid it is the second most expensive school here. RISD is the most expensive ($50,507) and scores 57, a reminder that art-school economics run on a different logic than ROI.