2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Rhode Island

Nursing is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Rhode Island ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 554 bachelor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The nursing bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of nursing students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for nursing students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The nursing school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Rhode Island.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Nursing in Rhode Island

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Top Rhode Island Schools for a Bachelor's in Nursing

1

University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI

292 Annual Graduates

$82,218 Median Starting Salary

$36,912 Median Student Debt

University of Rhode Island is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the large suburb of Kingston, URI is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Rhode Island receive $2,018 more than the typical nursing graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Rhode Island

2

Salve Regina University
Newport, RI

99 Annual Graduates

$78,876 Median Starting Salary

$47,557 Median Student Debt

It is difficult to beat Salve Regina University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the suburb of Newport, Salve Regina is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $78,876 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Salve Regina University

3

Rhode Island College
Providence, RI

121 Annual Graduates

$73,235 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in nursing needs to check out Rhode Island College. Located in the large suburb of Providence, RIC is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

After graduation, nursing bachelor's recipients usually earn about $73,235 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Rhode Island College

4

New England Institute of Technology
East Greenwich, RI

42 Annual Graduates

$86,470 Median Starting Salary

New England Institute of Technology is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. New England Tech is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of East Greenwich.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from New England Institute of Technology make $6,270 more than the standard nursing grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from New England Institute of Technology

Best Nursing Colleges in the New England Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the New England Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Massachusetts	238	3,400
Connecticut	183	1,555
New Hampshire	157	1,435
Maine	156	760
Vermont	155	216

View All Rankings >

Nursing Related Rankings by Major

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	554

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Health Sciences & Services	191
Health & Medical Administrative Services	103
Communication Sciences	76
Allied Health Professions	51
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	50
Public Health	29
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	22
Mental & Social Health Services	14
Dental Support Services	2

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.