These RI Colleges Earned Top Score On New National Ranking

Several Rhode Island colleges have been named to Money’s 2025 Best Colleges in America ratings, which focuses on institutions that are affordable, have strong academic programs and give graduates a strong shot at a good salary after graduation.

Money said its 11th annual ratings can give families of college-bound students some control in the uncertain landscape and help them find a college they can afford, with the academic programs and campus culture they want.

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The 732 colleges are those where students are most likely to graduate and land jobs, Money said.

Schools from Rhode Island include:

Brown University, Providence
Star rating: Five
Acceptance rate: 5%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $90,960
Estimated price with average aid: $28,200
Graduation rate: 96%

Bryant University, Smithfield
Star rating: Four and a half
Acceptance rate: 66%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $73,740
Estimated price with average aid: $43,100
Graduation rate: 84%

Providence College, Providence
Star rating: Four
Acceptance rate: 49%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $83,680
Estimated price with average aid: $49,500
Graduation rate: 89%

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Star rating: Three
Acceptance rate: 14%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $84,900
Estimated price with average aid: $44,700
Graduation rate: 88%

Roger Williams University, Bristol
Star rating: Three
Acceptance rate: 88%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $66,010
Estimated price with average aid: $40,300
Graduation rate: 67%

Salve Regina University, Newport
Star rating: Four
Acceptance rate: 70%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $73,590
Estimated price with average aid: $40,100
Graduation rate: 74%

University of Rhode Island, Kingston
Star rating: Four
Acceptance rate: 77%
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $36,320
Estimated price with average aid: $22,200
Graduation rate: 69%

Money looks at about two dozen data points to assemble the final lists, which were weighted by affordability (40%) and quality of education and outcomes, including post-graduation salaries (30% each).

Money said its ranking comes as the Trump administration reshapes higher education, including cuts to research grant funding, increased taxes on endowment, shrinking federal funding for some college access programs, and a crackdown on international student enrollment. The recently signed budget bill also makes changes to federal Pell grants and overhauls student loans.

“The volume of higher ed news right now is, frankly, overwhelming,” Marc Zawel, who cofounded the admissions consulting company AcceptU in 2009, told Money. “There’s a lot of noise that [students are] trying to work through to make sense of what actually affects them.”

Go here to see all rankings.

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