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Private College

Bryant University

Private College in Smithfield, RI. Six-year graduation rate 80%. Median 10-year earnings $90,008.

Verdict High-return
Bryant University · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$90,008
Median debt at grad
$26,849
Mobility score
1.6
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
79.8%
Federal loan default
0%

Students who entered Bryant University reach a median of $90,008 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate of 80% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates carry a median of $26,849 in debt — in line with the national norm.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • Debt-to-income ratio 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
  • Graduation rate 80% — well above the national average
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
65%
Applicants
9,825
Yield rate
13.7%

65% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 9,825 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 14% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 11% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.

Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)

These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.

Test 25th–75th percentile Submitted
SAT Evidence-Based Reading 610–660 94 (11%)
SAT Math 580–670
ACT Composite 27–28 9 (1%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Bryant University →

Academics

Full-time retention
87%
Transfer-out rate
15%
Student:faculty
13:1

80% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 87%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Transfer-out runs to 15% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$42,139
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
95%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
52%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,236 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Net price averages $42,139 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $32,698 at the $0–30k band to $44,846 at $110k+. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $27,257, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 52% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.

Entering first-year students

A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.

% receiving grants
99%
Average grant
$28,035

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 947 students

Net price by family income

The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.

Family income band Average net price
$0–30k $32,698
$30–48k $34,055
$48–75k $36,130
$75–110k $39,680
$110k+ $44,846

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 1,669 of these 3,236 students, totalling $10,414,526 — an average of $6,240 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Providence County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,318/mo
1 bedroom
$1,402/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,729/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
50
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
No

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Bryant University with peer institutions

How we evaluate Bryant University

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →