i'm a RIC grad. I went because it was cheaper and I was paying my own way through school. I've been out for years now, and in my professional life have worked with people who went to Harvard, Yale and other really expensive colleges. We all billed out the same.

Yes, if you go to some prestige schools, there are networks involved which help land better jobs. But once you are in the working world, it really doesn't matter. A degree is a degree.

Also, I think RIC's cache has come up in the world as of late with Viola Davis and more famous graduates.

The campus also has had quite a bit of money pushed into it -- when I went there buildings were falling down, etc. Now, most of the quad has relatively new buildings.