I’m not sure where you work, but sometimes employers will reimburse your tuition. Maybe yours does that?

If you're eligible for scholarships and seek them out. I got 1500 for writing a dumb 2 paragraph essay. I had centennial at the time so it got paid out as a check so used it for fees instead. This was also 10+ years ago though

Thanks for commenting! I appreciate your advice. Hmm, I don’t know that my job would offer that kind of assistance, only because it’s a very small, local company, I think there’s around 10 of us in total. Still, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for me to reach out and ask.

Absolutely! I wish you luck :)

This is something I definitely plan on doing, I am going to be extremely diligent and on top of it in regards to applying for as many scholarships as I can.

Thank you, I appreciate it a lot (:

As someone who goes there now, it’s not realistic at all. Even with a lot of help from the government and state, I still had to take out a lot in student loans. Scholarships seem almost impossible to win these days with the amount of people who apply for them.

I really appreciate you sharing your perspective as a URI student. It means a lot. Thanks for being frank with me about the current reality. It’s disheartening that college remains out of reach without loans, it feels so unfair to students. It’s a shame because URI has a really unique environmental economics program that caught my interest but I don’t know that I could afford it ):

Not sure if they still do it but they used to have payment plans. RIC may be a more affordable option if your major is available

In state or out of state tuition? Living on campus or commuting? There is dramatic differences in tuition cost depending on factors like this

Maybe if you really got into it, you COULD do ROTC? You’re right at the age limit (26) but something worth investigating if you would like.

Hi there! Thanks for your comment!

Currently, I would only qualify for out of state tuition but I plan to apply in a year and a half, but I am not sure if by then I may be eligible for in state tuition. I’d be open to both on campus or renting a room off campus, though I should note I don’t drive, so living close to campus might be ideal.

In state, commuting. Those thing’s definitely help cut down on the cost for sure, but not nearly enough to walk away debt free.

It definitely sucks that’s for sure. You should try CCRI first! You might be eligible for their free tuition, and can always transfer over to URI afterwards. That’s what I did to help cut down on college costs too. I’d be way more in student loan debt now if I just went to URI right after high school, and in all honesty I kind of enjoyed CCRI more than URI. It was easier to make friends there IMO.

What is ‘centennial’?

The centennial is a scholarship for RI kids (or was) that could get you up to full tuition , but I don't think that is possible here as I got offered it in high-school and think it was a one time offer, I made the dumb mistake of going somewhere else and taking out a bunch of loans that took 10 years to pay off

If you can manage working full time and going to school full time. Yes. URI is very affordable for in state tuition alone (don’t live on campus)

Look into going to CCRI for the first two years, and then transferring over to URI. You can get a Pell grant depending on your income/assets. If there is no/low income and no/low assets the max Pell grant is $6,895 for this year. I think that will cover your total cost of attending CCRI.

Then for year 3 and 4 you'll get this Pell grant again, and there might be other grants and scholarships. There are also programs like Work Study.

Talk to the financial aid office and admissions counselors at both CCRI and URI. They can help you. Both are public, not-for-profit institutions.

Also think about what degree you will get. A modest loan might be no problem with a nursing or computer science degree for example, while it will be more problematic to pay back if you choose a less well-paying career path.

Edit: It looks like there is a program where you do year 1 and 2 at CCRI, then transfer to URI and based on your GPA get up to 30% off the URI tuition. (https://web.uri.edu/transfer/joint-admissionccri/)

The current in-state tuition is $15,880 per year, so that could be $11,116. Then you could get the $6,895 Pell grant, so your net tuition is $4,221 per year for the last two years, and free for the first two years.

TLDR: Talk to both CCRI and URI, look into the transfer program, work with the FA office, get a Summer job, and you might be able to pull it off debt free.

Ah. Thanks for that info!

I’m asking bc my kid is in HS and looking at options for college right now. URI is the default if she 1) doesn’t get into a ridiculously good school (Stanford, Brown, etc) and 2) can’t find a different school that will cost a similar amount to URI.

A full-tuition scholarship would certainly tip the scales toward URI….

Out of state living on campus tuition and board is like 50k versus in state commuter around $15k. So if you can wait until you are a resident and compute you’d save a fortune.

I’d also recommend getting all your gen eds done at Ccri first and transferring over the credits. Could probably do the full degree this way for around 45k

My roommate had a centennial scholarship and she was from CT. That said, I graduated in 2005.

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Are you looking at graduate or undergraduate level? Graduate it is definitely possible depending on your focus area and degree type. I was able to get my MA with no additional debt through working as a TA/RA.

Now have you ever considered the military? Believe it or not, they pay you to go to college

Not sure where this is coming from, I graduated in 2019 without a penny of debt attending all 4 years commuting in state. Definitely doable, just needs a lot of hard work and commitment

What do you mean you’re “not sure where this is coming from?” Not everybody has the same experience that you do, you do realize that right?

Hard work and commitment to what exactly? If you already have a lot of money to begin with then no shit you can walk away debt-free and not have to take out loans, but not everyone comes from money or has their parents to help them pay off their tuition.

Assuming you get substantial aid, your bill shouldn’t be more than a few thousand a semester, this is fairly easy to maintain with a part time job and saving in the summer. Sure there are differences between people, but it’s definitely doable.

I assume the person who wrote this post was talking about attending URI without having to pay a dime, which isn’t realistic unless they hit the jackpot with scholarships or join the military. And even if they do get aid, a few grand a semester isn’t cheap with a part-time job that pays minimum wage. Tuition costs at that school have also probably gone up a lot since you first went there.

This is the way.

Being broke and 25 is actually to your advantage in this situation. When you fill out the Fafsa, they'll go by your income & net worth, not your parents, so you'll qualify for more financial aid. Also, since you're 25, you can probably get some credit for life experience (I believe the Feinstein Campus in PVD has a program). You can also take the CLEP tests for a number of classes, which is faster & cheaper than taking an actual course. Talk to an advisor at URI, and they'll help you figure it out. If you have any difficulties in your background (substance abuse, homelessness, etc) there are scholarships specifically to help you get an education and build your life. You can definitely do this!

Also, when someone tells you you can't do something, they really mean that THEY can't do it. Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do.

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OP says savings from work so assuming he was willing to work a job.

It isn’t easy to do, but it’s doable. If you’re willing to sacrifice on partying and focus on work and school you can definitely do it

I don’t go to parties, drink, or smoke weed and the shit still isn’t easy without taking out loans or ending up in debt. Know it might be surprising, but not everyone lives the way you think they do.

If I’m not mistaken after the age of 24 your are considered an independent in the eyes of colleges as in they can’t use ur parents/family’s household income for fasfa or financial aid, they have to go off of your income. And if you make not a lot, there are a lot of low income financial aid options (not sure which ones there are for uri specifically tho). Ur in a good position bc of ur age so I would ask around and look into ones specifically for low income

No

Correct.

From personal experience, RIC is better for that. For reference, I was valedictorian in high school and got the maximum scholarship for both URI and RIC. I ended up at RIC and have no loans at all. Ultimately either works, but I really like RIC.

Someone Who Is Not Me?

I second this. I wish I did this when I went to college.

What he said!

A FAFSA will determine whether you get any grants (not loans) from the governments. Scholarships are next, plenty to apply to and nobody does anymore. In addition, there are work programs where you work for the university--not sure what benefits to school there are. Lastly, though it may not be available before graduate school, a TA or RA position, which would cover all tuition and pay a stipend. Best luck, URI is a good school. Don't forget to talk to their registrar and they probably have the most information on help with tuition.

I agree with you. Not sure why someone downvoted you. It is doable, taking advantage of every program possible--especially if you are low income.

Agreed. If you are trying to live the "college life" you are probably blowing your cash, especially in dorms and with a car. If the person is in need, more programs exist to help. Its the middle-class eighteen year olds who can't manage a job and school who take the easy money and are indebted.

My friend did because her dad was on disability. Her parents were divorced. She only had to show one parents income.

This times a thousand.

Depending on the major you might be able to get away with going to RIC. People give that school a hard time but my major actually had a great program compared to some others i’ve heard stories from

Thanks for your comment. I love that you brought up RIC, it is another school that I am considering too. I’m curious, why does RIC draw such negative reactions from people?

When i went i think ric was about 8k off campus What i hear is that the admin offices for some majors don’t do a good job helping students. In terms of getting correct credits transferred, making sure students have a graduation plan / which classes they have to take and when. I can obviously only speak from my experience i had a great time at ric.

Some people experience an extra year or two cause major advisors don’t have student pick the correct classes for the semester/ comes to spring semester and yku have to take a class you can only get in the fall

When i went i think ric was about 8k off campus What i hear is that the admin offices for some majors don’t do a good job helping students. In terms of getting correct credits transferred, making sure students have a graduation plan / which classes they have to take and when. I can obviously only speak from my experience i had a great time at ric.

Some people experience an extra year or two cause major advisors don’t have student pick the correct classes for the semester/ comes to spring semester and you have to take a class you can only get in the fall

Some people experience an extra year or two cause major advisors don’t have student pick the correct classes for the semester/ comes to spring semester and you have to take a class you can only get in the fall I can only speak from my experience my major helped us a lot.

Yep. This the way to go. I’m a product of a similar path, but RIC, not URI. Walked away with minimal debt (~$4k) and it was totally worth it.

I’m pretty sure URI grants you the degree as well so nobody would know you went to CCRI

You can actually end up with two degrees, one from each, (associates and bachelor's) this way for essentially the same price. It's what I did a way and it's worked out really well.

This is what I did and it has worked really well. I completed my associates at ccri and transferred over to URI. I agree with derpbeluga, I strongly recommend talking to a URI advisor to plan out what courses to take while you're at CCRI. Maybe I had bad luck with CCRI guidance, but their recommendations were pretty inconsistant with URIs course recommendations. Still worth talking to both, free information is useful, but don't skip talking to URI. Wasting classes can cost an extra semester of time and money if you don't optimize by taking courses that not only transfer, but fulfill URIs Gen Ed requirements for your program.

I still recommend taking courses you like...just don't pay for classes that end up not going towards your degree at all if you don't want to pay.

Edit: also my math classes at CCRI were WAY easier to learn in. Classrooms are smaller (like high school). Get some harder classes out of the way there. I took up to Calc 2 at CCRI and I'm pleased with the results.

Yea if you use the JAA program you get an associates in general studies from CCRI and a bachelor's of your major from the college you transfer too.

I remember i did the 1+2 at ccri and started in 2018. thought I had the discount for URI once I graduated from cc in 2020, come to find out my CCRI advisor lied to me and never checked me off for the program even though we had 2 meetings about it….. so that’s was fun lol

Hopefully OP can get the 1+2 offer and save big on it

RIC is a great value. You get essentially the same education, less partying, and considerably less debt.

This is the route I went. 5 years at URI, a couple of those commuting at home and the rest living off-campus, ended up graduating not only not in-debt but with several thousand in my bank account. Stayed in the Rhode Island National Guard and have been on a good track ever since. It's not for everyone, but it's an option.