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2024 Best Colleges in Rhode Island

9 Colleges
$60,331 Avg Salary*
62% Avg 4-Year Grad Rate*

There are lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our Top Rhode Island Colleges ranking is part of that endeavor.

After analyzing 9 schools in Rhode Island, we came up with our list of those that offered the highest quality education. Instead of depending on subjective information, we focus on over 20 objective factors to determine this ranking. These factors include such things as student-to-faculty ratio, average graduate earnings, and graduation rate.

See what other factors we include in our ranking methodology.

Custom Rankings

Since one ranking on its own is not enough to give you a complete understanding of your educational options, you can refine this list by location and field of study. We've also developed a number of other tools and rankings based on other factors. These other rankings highlight colleges that excel in other factors such as value or diversity as well as schools that excel in serving different groups of students such as veterans or returnings adults.

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You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering!

Top Colleges in Rhode Island

Learn more about these excellent schools below:

1
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

Our analysis found Brown University to be the best school for overall quality in Rhode Island in this year’s ranking. Brown is a private not-for-profit institution located in Providence, Rhode Island. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 3,032 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 98%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Brown go into careers with an average salary of $78,943 during the early years of their career.

Read full report on Brown University

2
Providence crest
Providence College
Providence, Rhode Island

Out of the 9 schools in Rhode Island that were part of this year’s ranking, Providence College landed the #2 spot on the list. Providence College is a small private not-for-profit school located in Providence, Rhode Island that handed out 1,476 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Providence make an average of $69,532 per year during the early years of their career.

Read full report on Providence College

3
Bryant crest
Bryant University
Smithfield, Rhode Island

Out of the 9 schools in Rhode Island that were part of this year’s ranking, Bryant University landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 1,119 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Bryant go into careers with an average salary of $91,105 during the early years of their career.

Read More…

4
URI crest
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, Rhode Island

A rank of #4 on our Best Colleges in Rhode Island list means University of Rhode Island is a great place for students working on their bachelor’s degree. URI is a public institution located in Kingston, Rhode Island. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 4,782 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The low student loan default rate of 4.3% 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% Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from URI go into careers with an average salary of $66,484 during the early years of their career.

Read full report on University of Rhode Island

5
New England Tech crest
New England Institute of Technology
East Greenwich, Rhode Island

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend New England Institute of Technology. It ranked #5 on our 2024 Best Colleges in Rhode Island list. New England Tech is located in East Greenwich, Rhode Island and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 1,089 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergradutates.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $45,100 during the early years of their career..

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6

Johnson & Wales University - Providence did quite well in the 2024 Best Colleges in Rhode Island ranking, coming in at #6. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, the small private not-for-profit school awarded 1,633 diplomas to qualifed bachelor’s degree students in 2020-2021.

Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from JWU Providence go into careers with an average salary of $41,977 during the early years of their career.

Read full report on Johnson & Wales University - Providence

7
RWU crest
Roger Williams University
Bristol, Rhode Island

Roger Williams University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Colleges in Rhode Island list. Roger Williams University is a small private not-for-profit school located in Bristol, Rhode Island that handed out 1,180 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from RWU is $64,743 during the early years of their career.

Read full report on Roger Williams University

8

Community College of Rhode Island did quite well in the 2024 Best Colleges in Rhode Island ranking, coming in at #8. Located in Warwick, Rhode Island, the fairly large public school awarded 2,343 diplomas to qualifed bachelor’s degree students in 2020-2021.

During the early years of their career, graduates from CCRI make an average of $35,848 a year.

Read More…

9
RIC crest
Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

Rhode Island College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Rhode Island ranking. Rhode Island College is a medium-sized public school located in Providence, Rhode Island that handed out 1,841 bachelor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from RIC is $49,249 during the early years of their career.

Read More…

Best Colleges in the New England Region

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Notes and References

Footnotes

*These averages are for the top 9 schools only.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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