Providence, RI · Private · 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 School of Design
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
$215,263
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $16,100.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for RISD, $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 RISD
| Full price | $92,847 |
| After grants, at your income | $48,095 |
30% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $37,227 on average.
At this income, 8 of Rhode Island's other 8 colleges cost less after grants, and 0 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. RISD's scholarships depend on financial need and rise each year with tuition. Two YoungArts awards of at least $10,000 go to first-year students who enter that competition.
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At RISD, our scenarios for Rhode Island households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $7,500 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 School of Design says it awards for grades and test scores.
RISD's scholarships depend on financial need and rise each year with tuition. Two YoungArts awards of at least $10,000 go to first-year students who enter that competition.
“When you apply to RISD, you will be considered for scholarship aid based on your financial aid application. The RISD Promise is our commitment to provide need-based scholarship funding which will renew and increase every year you attend RISD, in proportion to the rise of tuition costs.”
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 RISD reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
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 $7,500 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in RISD'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 RISD 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.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from RISD, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for RISD →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Rhode Island School of Design's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% 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 average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
Rhode Island School of Design's own budget for 2026-27 is $93,776. 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 School of Design. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Bryant University$42,485 a year
- Providence College$42,949 a year
- RISD$48,095 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Rhode Island college →