Brown May Cost More But Grads Have Less Debt

All else being equal, if a URI and a Brown grad both apply for the same job, the kid with the Ivy League degree is probably going to get the gig. That Brown diploma ought to be more valuable; at $54,000 a year, Brown costs a lot more than does URI, which runs the average student about $24,000 a year.

But it shouldn’t also be easier for the average Brown grad to pay for the premium! According to the Project on Student Debt, it is.

In 2011, the average Brown grad owed $20,455 for their degree while the average URI grad owed $25,973. At Brown, only 45 percent of 2011 graduates had student loan debt while 73 percent of URI grads did.

The Project on Student Debt Rhode Island ranks Rhode Island as having the fourth highest average student loan debt in the nation at $29,097. RISD didn’t report its data for the study, but here are some of the others:

• Salve Regina ……………..$43,237
• Roger Williams ………….$38,365
• Bryant University ………$37,813
• Providence College …….$32,850
• Rhode Island College …$21,384

The Brown Daily Herald had an article about this back in November with a great lede: “Despite having the highest tuition in Rhode Island, Brown had the lowest average debt of all reporting colleges in the state for class of 2011 graduates, according to the Project on Student Debt, a report published by the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit.”