2025 Best Associate Degree Schools in Rhode Island

There are lots of options to choose from today when trying to decide which school to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our Top Rhode Island Colleges for an Associate ranking - to help you make that decision.

Jump to Any of the Following Sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Your Choice of School Matters

After analyzing 3 schools in Rhode Island, we came up with our list of those that offered the best associate degree programs. To come up with this ranking of the best schools, we look at factors that are all objective measurements. We explain more about what we look at and why we do so below.

Early-Career Earnings

Average early-career salary of those graduating with an associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue a degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Average Student Debt

In addition to average starting salaries, we also consider the average amount of student loans that students take on while pursuing their associate degree. When attending a school in Rhode Island, associate degree students accumulate an average of $21,884 in student debt before graduation. The average amount taken out in student loans for graduates at a particular school may be crippling for those who earn less than average wages after graduation.

Other Ranking Factors in Our Methodology

We also analyze a number of other factors in addition to average post-graduation earnings and average student debt when coming up with our yearly Best Associate Degree Schools ranking. Several other factors - such as how much the school spends on educational resources, the demand of the school, the availability of online learning options, and the student body caliber - go into our rankings.

We go into more detail on these factors on our best schools ranking methodology page.

Check Out These Other Rankings

If you'd rather work on your associate degree in a specific area of the country, you might be interested in our rankings by place. In addition, we've put together a number of other college rankings that may help you in your search.

Top Associate Degree Schools in Rhode Island

Learn more about these excellent schools below:

1

Johnson & Wales University - Providence
Providence, Rhode Island

377 Associate Degrees Awarded

$27,514 Average Early-Career Earnings

$29,179 Average Student Debt

Our analysis found Johnson & Wales University - Providence to be the best school for associate degrees in Rhode Island in this year’s ranking. JWU Providence is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Providence, Rhode Island. It awarded 377 associate degrees in 2021-2022.

Upon graduation, associate degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $27,514 during the early years of their career. The average amount of student debt accumulated by associate students is $29,179.

Read full report on Johnson & Wales University - Providence

2

New England Institute of Technology
East Greenwich, Rhode Island

537 Associate Degrees Awarded

$43,925 Average Early-Career Earnings

$30,691 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend New England Institute of Technology. The school came in at #2 in Rhode Island on this year’s best associate degree schools ranking. Located in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, the small private not-for-profit school awarded 537 diplomas to qualifed associate degree students in 2021-2022.

Upon graduation, associate degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $43,925 during the early years of their career. Associate students carry an average student debt load of about $30,691 after getting their degree.

Learn More About New England Institute of Technology

3

Community College of Rhode Island
Warwick, Rhode Island

1,926 Associate Degrees Awarded

$39,947 Average Early-Career Earnings

$10,645 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Community College of Rhode Island. The school came in at #3 in Rhode Island on this year’s best associate degree schools ranking. CCRI is a fairly large public school situated in Warwick, Rhode Island. It awarded 1,926 associate degrees in 2021-2022.

During the early years of their career, associate degree graduates from CCRI make an average of $39,947 a year. The average amount of student debt accumulated by associate students is $10,645.

Full Community College of Rhode Island Report

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Notes and References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

More about our data sources and methodologies.