2021 Best Colleges for the Money (With No Aid) in Rhode Island
With all of the options you have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our Best Rhode Island Schools For The Money For Those With No Aid ranking is part of that endeavor.
Our analysis looked at 9 schools to determine which ones were the best for overall value for the money with no aid in Rhode Island. This ranking doesn't just identify the colleges with the lowest costs. Rather, it highlights those institutions that offer excellent educational experiences for a lower cost than other schools of roughly the same caliber. Because of this, it is possible for one college to rank better than another, even if the latter college has a lower average cost.
Learn more about our ranking methodology.
To calculate the average cost amount, we sum up the total expenses to attend a school - such as tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies, and other living expenses. This estimate is meant to give you a better picture of how much money you'll have to pay each year, either through self-pay, loans, or external scholarships.
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One Size Does Not Fit All
We know that one set of rankings doesn't always help you determine the best school for you, so we've created the ability to narrow your list by location and field of study as well as alternative rankings that prioritize different factors, such as those of importance to veterans and returning adults or those seeking diversity and overall quality.
One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. If you're torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another!
Top Colleges for the Money (Without Aid) in Rhode Island
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
University of Rhode Island tops this year’s ranking as the best school for overall value for the money with no aid in Rhode Island. This fairly large public school is located in Kingston, Rhode Island, and it awarded 3,624 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The average amount of time it takes for a student to receive their degree at URI is 4.3 years, and the estimated yearly cost for the school is $30,846 for students who receive no aid. This means that the average student pays around $133,255 to get a bachelor’s degree from URI. If you can shave even one term off your degree, you can save a substantial amount of money.
The low student loan default rate of 4.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Rhode Island College. The school came in at #2 in Rhode Island on this year’s best value ranking. RIC is located in Providence, Rhode Island and has a medium-sized student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 1,402 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergradutates.
It takes the average student at RIC about 4.8 years to graduate, and it costs students who receive no aid about $24,612 per year to attend the school. This makes the estimated cost of a bachelor’s degree from RIC be around $117,399. Graduating sooner can prevent you from having to pay more money out of pocket.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Roger Williams University. The school came in at #3 in Rhode Island on this year’s best value ranking. RWU is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Bristol, Rhode Island. It awarded 935 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
It takes about 4.1 years for the average student at RWU to complete their degree, and the yearly average cost to attend the school is $54,537 for students who receive no aid. Looking at these numbers together, we estimate that the average cost of a bachelor’s degree from RWU is about $224,147. If you can shave even one term off your degree, you can save a substantial amount of money.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. RWU did well in our quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Colleges in Rhode Island list.
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A rank of #4 on our Best Colleges for the Money in Rhode Island list means Brown University is a great place for students working on their bachelor’s degree. Providence, Rhode Island is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 2,097 students in 2018-2019.
The average amount of time it takes for a student to receive their degree at Brown is 4.1 years, and the estimated yearly cost for the school is $77,490 for students who receive no aid. Putting this cost and the average time to graduate together, we find that the average amount you’ll pay to get a bachelor’s degree from Brown is $320,809. Graduating sooner can prevent you from having to pay more money out of pocket.
With a student-to-faculty rate of 7 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. Brown did well in our quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Colleges in Rhode Island list.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Providence College. It ranked #5 on our 2021 Best Value Colleges in Rhode Island list. Providence, Rhode Island is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 1,119 students in 2018-2019.
The average amount of time it takes for a student to receive their degree at Providence is 4.0 years, and it costs students who receive no aid about $69,730 per year to attend the school. Looking at these numbers together, we estimate that the average cost of a bachelor’s degree from Providence is about $281,709. If you can shave even one term off your degree, you can save a substantial amount of money.
The low student loan default rate of 3.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. Providence also took the #2 spot in our Best Colleges in Rhode Island rankings.
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Bryant University landed the #6 spot on the 2021 Best Value Colleges in Rhode Island ranking. Bryant is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Smithfield, Rhode Island. It awarded 931 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The average amount of time it takes for a student to receive their degree at Bryant is 4.0 years, and the average full-time cost to attend the school for students who receive no aid is around $64,050. Looking at these numbers together, we estimate that the average cost of a bachelor’s degree from Bryant is about $259,402. The sooner a student graduates, the more money they can save.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Bryant also took the #4 spot in our Best Colleges in Rhode Island rankings.
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Rhode Island School of Design came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for the Money in Rhode Island ranking. RISD is a private not-for-profit institution located in Providence, Rhode Island. The school has a small population, and it awarded 501 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
At RISD, the average time it takes a student to graduate is 4.2 years, and on average, the annual cost to attend the school is $72,780 for students who receive no aid. Thus, the average cost to get a bachelor’s degree from the RISD is $308,587. Graduating sooner can prevent you from having to pay more money out of pocket.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. RISD did well in our quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Colleges in Rhode Island list.
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Salve Regina University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Colleges for the Money in Rhode Island list. This small private not-for-profit school is located in Newport, Rhode Island, and it awarded 558 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
At Salve Regina, the average time it takes a student to graduate is 4.1 years, and the average full-time cost to attend the school for students who receive no aid is around $61,260. When we combine these numbers, we estimate that the cost to get a bachelor’s degree from Salve Regina is $249,941. Graduating sooner can prevent you from having to pay more money out of pocket.
The student loan default rate at the school is 2.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
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With a ranking of #9, Johnson & Wales University - Providence did quite well on the 2021 Best Colleges for the Money in Rhode Island list. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 1,570 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
The average student at JWU Providence graduates in less than 4.2 years, and the yearly average cost to attend the school is $52,300 for students who receive no aid. This means that the average student pays around $217,568 to get a bachelor’s degree from JWU Providence. When students graduate in a lesser amount of time, they can save thousands of dollars.
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 9 schools only.
- For our state-specific rankings, we use in-state tuition to calculate average cost. For our national and regional rankings, we use a weighted average of in-state and non-resident tuition.
References
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.