Providence, RI · Public · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for Rhode Island College
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$104,965
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $4,500.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Rhode Island College, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at Rhode Island College
| Full price, in state | $29,284 |
| Full price, out of state | $46,936 |
| After grants, at your income | $24,897 |
At this income, 1 of Rhode Island's other 8 colleges cost less after grants, and 7 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. The Hope Scholarship pays the tuition and mandatory fees left after other aid in the junior and senior years. It is for Rhode Island residents who start full time at RIC and keep a 2.5 GPA.
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At Rhode Island College, our scenarios for Rhode Island households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $6,200 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What Rhode Island College says it awards for grades and test scores.
The Hope Scholarship pays the tuition and mandatory fees left after other aid in the junior and senior years. It is for Rhode Island residents who start full time at RIC and keep a 2.5 GPA.
“The Rhode Island College Hope Scholarship is a pilot program that provides last-dollar tuition and mandatory fee payments to in-state students at Rhode Island College for their junior and senior years, if they are in good academic standing, with a 2.5 GPA or higher, and on track to graduate or to earn an approved certificate in a total of four years.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Rhode Island College reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price. Out of state, there are no grants: the price is before any scholarship from the college.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit. For a family that lives in Rhode Island, it also counts Rhode Island's tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $6,200 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Rhode Island College's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Rhode Island, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Rhode Island College at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Rhode Island College's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 3.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The out-of-state figure uses the published out-of-state tuition instead. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
Rhode Island College's own budget for 2026-27 is $32,203 in state and $49,341 out of state. It also counts costs the college doesn't bill for, such as travel and personal spending. We leave those out.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Rhode Island College. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- University of Rhode Island$23,209 a year
- Rhode Island College$24,897 a year
- Brown University$29,995 a year
- Johnson & Wales$34,379 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Rhode Island college →