by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students are not billed the full, advertised sticker price of a school. Instead, they will be given a financial aid offer that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The total price of attendance at Rhode Island School of Design can feel tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students receive some sort of financial help.
What financial assistance options will RISD offer, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Keep reading to learn how much school funding will be available to you.
Eligibility for aid and scholarships is driven mostly by your household’s income and need. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from Rhode Island School of Design.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
For freshmen starting at Rhode Island School of Design, 41% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid approximately 205 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 31% | $38,223 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 30% | $37,227 |
| Federal Pell grants | 11% | $6,031 |
| State/local grants | 0% | — |
| Federal student loans | 30% | $5,139 |
Because grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid, they are the most sought-after type of financial aid. At RISD, roughly 36% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $35,676 (for some 762 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 36% | $35,676 |
| Federal Pell grants | 15% | $5,723 |
| Federal student loans | 29% | $6,389 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $31,220.
The figures below show the average net price — cost after all grant and scholarship aid — broken out by family income.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $32,776 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $33,638 |
| Over $75,000 | $58,020 |
Each figure is the net price after grants and scholarships, not the published sticker price.
The net price represents the average annual cost a title-IV-receiving student pays after grant aid is subtracted from the full cost of attendance.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $50,507 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $46,253 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try RISD’s online cost calculator: risd.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx.
The middle student in the debt distribution at RISD owes $23,250 in federal loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $23,250 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $27,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $286.24/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The percentiles below describe the cumulative federal debt distribution for borrowers at RISD.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,750 |
| 25th percentile | $14,000 |
| 75th percentile | $30,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,000 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $26,000 |
| Middle income | $24,126 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $27,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $23,250 |
| Independent students | $35,500 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. RISD.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at RISD:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 4944 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $123,526,123 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 7 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $250,044 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $35,721 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.