Providence College Overview

Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Providence College is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

What Is Providence College Known For?

• Students at Providence have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The master's degree is the highest award offered at Providence.
• In 2019-2020, 64% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Providence makes roughly $69,532 a year. This is 70% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
• The average Providence student graduates in 4.0 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Providence College Rankings

We have ranked Providence as #314 out of 2,018 colleges and universities in the country in our 2023 Best Colleges list. Providence also holds the #2 spot on the Best Colleges in Rhode Island ranking.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Providence has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#12	Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Providence.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Neurobiology & Neurosciences Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Ecology & Systematics Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#41	Best Educational Administration Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#74	Best Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#79	Best General Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#87	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#99	Best Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#106	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#161	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Providence has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#25	Best Educational Administration Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#51	Best Liberal Arts General Studies Schools	College Factual
#72	Best Health & Medical Administrative Services Schools	College Factual
#89	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#91	Best Education Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#130	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual

Where Is Providence College?

Contact details for Providence are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918-0001
Phone:	401-865-1000
Website:	www.providence.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/providencecollege
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/providencecol

How Do I Get Into Providence?

You can apply to Providence online at: admission.providence.edu/apply/

Admission Requirements for Providence

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	considered but not required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Providence?

With an acceptance rate of 54%, Providence does not let just anybody through their doors! Make sure you spend enough time polishing up your application so you will make a great impression.

Approximately 44% of accepted students are men and 56% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 55%, and the acceptance rate for women is 53%.

Average Test Scores

About 44% of students accepted to Providence submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 610 and 680. Math scores were between 600 and 680.

Providence received ACT scores from 14% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 27 and 34. Math scores were between 25 and 30. Composite scores were between 27 and 31.

Can I Afford Providence College?

The overall average net price of Providence is $51,382. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Providence, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $10,119 a year. That adds up to $40,476 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Providence is 1.8%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Providence College Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 4,298 undergraduate students at Providence, with 4,098 being full-time and 200 being part-time.

There are also 523 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 4,098 full-time undergraduates at Providence, 45% are male and 55% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Providence College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	67
Black or African American	140
Hispanic or Latino	413
White	3,163
International Students	67
Other Races/Ethnicities	248

Geographic Diversity

Rhode Island students aren't the only ones who study at Providence College. At this time, 33 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 34 countries are represented at Providence. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Canada, Vietnam, and Ireland.

Online Learning at Providence College

In 2019-2020, 4,480 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Providence has changed over the last few years.

Online Growth Rankings of Providence

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Providence College was 378.1%. This is the #186 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Providence regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Providence College Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Undergraduate Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	6	0	0	112	0	104	222
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	0	215	0	0	215
Marketing	0	0	0	114	0	0	114
General Biology	0	0	0	88	0	0	88
General Psychology	0	0	0	77	0	0	77
Accounting	1	0	0	70	0	0	71
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0	63	63
Economics	0	0	0	62	0	0	62
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	0	59	0	0	59
Political Science & Government	2	0	0	57	0	0	59
History	0	0	0	37	0	13	50
Special Education	0	0	0	41	0	2	43
Sociology	0	0	0	32	0	0	32
Teacher Education Subject Specific	5	0	0	12	0	12	29
Mathematics	0	0	0	25	0	3	28
International Studies	0	0	0	28	0	0	28
Student Counseling	0	0	0	0	0	22	22
General English Literature	0	0	0	22	0	0	22
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	0	0	20	0	0	0	20
Romance Languages	0	0	0	16	0	0	16
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	15	0	0	15
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	6	0	7	0	0	13
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	0	0	0	0	11	0	11
Social Work	0	0	0	11	0	0	11
Computer Science	0	0	0	10	0	0	10
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	0	0	0	9	9
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	0	2	0	6	8
Writing Studies	0	0	0	7	0	0	7
Philosophy	0	0	0	7	0	0	7
Human Resource Management	1	0	0	5	0	0	6
Ethnic Studies	0	0	0	6	0	0	6
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	0	6	0	0	6
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	0	0	5	0	0	5
Area Studies	0	0	0	5	0	0	5
Health/Medical Prep Programs	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
Engineering Physics	0	0	0	4	0	0	4
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	0	3	0	0	3
Community Organization & Advocacy	1	0	0	2	0	0	3
Classical Languages & Literature	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Chemistry	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Public Relations & Advertising	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Fire Protection	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Music	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
General Engineering	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Systems Engineering	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sustainability Science	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Religious Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Public Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Biblical Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	21	6	20	1,173	11	234	1,465

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By John Phelan under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.