RI Has Most Expensive College Tuitions in Country, Says New Report

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RI Has Most Expensive College Tuitions in Country, Says New Report

PHOTO: URI Today/Flickr Commons
College tuition bills in Rhode Island are the highest in the country, according to a new study released by Move.org.

According to the study, RI’s average in-state tuition is $30,879, while out-of-state tuition is $33,908.

"We looked at all public and private colleges in each state that offer bachelor’s degrees and higher," said the report.

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“Despite being the smallest state in the U.S., there’s nothing tiny about Rhode Island’s college tuition. With an average in-state tuition of $30,879, it costs—drumroll please—$27,494 more per year to attend school in the Ocean State than in Wyoming, the cheapest U.S. state for college,” writes Move.org about Rhode Island.

Brown University reports that the cost to attend for the 2018-2019 academic year which included $54,320 for tuition, $9,120 for rooming, $5,550 for boarding, $2,017 for personal expenses, $1,595 for books, and $1,236 for fees — totaling roughly $73,892.

Efforts for by Governor Gina Raimondo to provide free college tuition at Rhode Island College was not adopted by the RI General Assembly in 2019.

RI is also one of five New England states that rank in the top 10 among most expensive college tuitions.

The other New England states are Vermont, who ranks second, Massachusetts, who ranks third, New Hampshire, who ranks seventh, and Connecticut, who ranks eighth, according to the study.

“New England wins (ahem, loses) with some of the highest college costs. Meanwhile, the Southwest and mountain states boast the lowest tuition in the country,” writes Move.org.

See the Chart Below

Wyoming is the least expensive state.

The Method

To get the rankings, Move.org looked at all public and private colleges in each state that offer bachelor’s degrees and higher.

1. They compared each state’s average in-state tuition with its average out-of-state tuition.

Move.org found that, in general, the states with high in-state costs also have high out-of-state costs—so they based the final ranking solely on the average in-state tuition.

2. Move.org also looked at net cost by state, which includes in-state tuition for first-time students plus living expenses, books, and supplies (and minus scholarships and aid)

3. In some states, students receive enough financial aid to actually nudge that net cost lower than the annual cost of tuition.

The net cost is the total cost to attend college for a year after all is said and done.

Chart courtesy of Move.org

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