What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$12,923 to $28,460 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $34,321 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $17,595.Aid and debt
66.3%
receive need-based grants
$42,945
average debt at graduation
2,578
students got merit aid
about 18% of undergraduates
$7,266
average merit award
Getting In
Admit rates
74.6%
admitted overall
74.3%
admitted Early Decision
74.6%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at 1x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1090–1310 · 23% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 24.5–31 · 2% of the class submitted
19% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Important
- Extracurriculars
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Considered
- Class rank
- SAT/ACT scores
- Special talent
- Character
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- Legacy status
What this means for you
Rhode Island rates course rigor, your essay, and your recommendations as Very Important, and your activities as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. The essay is weighted like your GPA. Choose recommenders who can be specific about you, not just confirm your transcript. And depth and leadership in a few activities matter more than a long list.
Rhode Island rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Rhode Island just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Rhode Island essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
38.3% of Rhode Island classes have fewer than 20 students.
38.3%
under 20 students
50.9%
20 to 49
10.8%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Rhode Island CDS 2025–26, I-3.
17:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
46%
live on campus
24%
of men in fraternities
30%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White68.7%
- Hispanic13.6%
- Black5.4%
- Multiracial3.9%
- Unknown / other3.9%
- Asian3%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Rhode Island CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
57.4% of Rhode Island students graduate in 4 years.
57.4%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
71.2%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
85.2%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
62.5% finish in 6 years, against 71.2% of all students.
An 8.7-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Kingston.
Kingston is a historic village in South Kingstown, 30 miles and roughly forty minutes south of Providence, and the campus sits about ten minutes from the Narragansett beaches.
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URI's own commuter office says most juniors and seniors move 'down the line' to Narragansett Pier, Wakefield, Point Judith and Matunuck for their last two years, which makes the beach towns as much a part of student life as the village is.
The City
College town
Kingston, RI
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Christiane Amanpour
CNN's chief international anchor and host of Amanpour & Company on PBS, who took her journalism degree at URI
Class of 1983
Robert Ballard
Marine explorer who located the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 and, earlier, the first deep-sea hydrothermal vents; he took his doctorate at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography and later returned there to teach
Thomas M. Ryan
Chairman and chief executive of CVS from 1994 until 2011, who started there as a pharmacist the year he finished URI's pharmacy degree
Class of 1975
Lincoln Almond
Governor of Rhode Island from 1995 to 2003, and before that the state's U.S. Attorney for two decades
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Oozeball
A mud volleyball tournament the Student Alumni Association has run every spring since 1990. The field by the Plains Road lot is plowed by local farmers and then soaked by the Kingston Fire Department until it is nearly a foot deep; teams are six a side, single elimination, and alumni are allowed to enter alongside students.
Keaney Blue
URI's light blue is named after Frank Keaney, who coached the Rams from 1921, went 401-124 and is credited with inventing the fast break. URI athletics says the school colour was his creation — which is why the shade carries a coach's name rather than a committee's.
The Inner Space Center
At URI's Narragansett Bay Campus, a satellite link carries live video from research ships at sea around the clock. Undergraduates — in marine biology and ocean engineering, but also film and media studies and computer science — work the control room during expeditions rather than watching graduate students do it.
Weekend escapes from Kingston
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Kingston
Narragansett and the South County beaches
15 minutesNarragansett Town Beach, Scarborough and Point Judith are a short drive east — and the same towns are where most upperclassmen end up living.
Newport
30 minutesThe mansions, the sailing harbour and the summer festivals, across the bay.
Providence
40 minutesThe state capital and the nearest city. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor stops at Kingston station a couple of miles from campus, so it is reachable without a car; Boston is about an hour further on.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Rhode Island T.F. Green International (PVD)
35 minutes from campus
For international flights: Boston Logan International (BOS) — about 1 hour 30 minutes by road.
Pro sports nearby
- Providence Bruins AHL
- Rhode Island FC USL Championship
- New England Patriots NFLAbout 1 hour away
- Boston Red Sox MLBAbout 1 hour 30 minutes away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Rhode Island packs its employers inside an hour of campus in a way a bigger state cannot — submarine construction at Quonset Point half an hour north, biomanufacturing in West Greenwich, and the hospitals, insurers and banks in Providence.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- General Dynamics Electric Boat
- CVS Health
- Amgen
- Brown University Health
- Citizens Financial Group
- Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Providence, 40 minutes
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
URI admits 74.6% of applicants, and applying early decision barely moves that — 74.3% of its early decision applicants were admitted, so the binding commitment buys an earlier answer rather than better odds. The campus is a village in South Kingstown, about forty minutes from Providence and minutes from the Narragansett beaches, and by junior year most students have moved down the line to the beach towns: 46% of undergraduates live in university housing. Greek life is a substantial part of the social map — 24% of men and 30% of women join. Academically it is shaped like the large public it is: 17 students per faculty member and 38.3% of classes under 20. Cost is where families need to look hardest. URI meets 57.0% of demonstrated need on average and its graduates carry $42,945 in average debt, and the outcomes trail that price — 57.4% finish in four years and 71.2% within six. Students who received a Pell Grant finish within six at 62.5%, against 71.2% for the cohort as a whole.