Rhode Island College
Public College in Providence, RI. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $56,318.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $56,318 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate is 48%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $20,500, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 92% of applicants are accepted. 5,415 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield sits at 23% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. 19% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 450–580 | 220 (19%) |
| SAT Math | 420–540 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Rhode Island College →Academics
Completion is middling: 48% finish inside six years. Retention of 73% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The part-time picture is harder: 50% return, against 73% full-time. The 15:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,639 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $10,346 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $6,378 while those at $110k+ pay $15,681. 76% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,940 — common but not automatic. About 49% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 799 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 | $6,378 |
| $30–48k | $6,989 |
| $48–75k | $8,701 |
| $75–110k | $12,809 |
| $110k+ | $15,681 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,251 of these 4,639 students, totalling $14,099,825 — an average of $6,264 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.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)