University of Rhode Island

URI is both an online school and a traditional university that hosts students on campus in Kingston, Rhode Island. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 36% of its undergraduate students take at least some online classes, while only 3% study exclusively online.  

Employers respect online degrees from URI because they're delivered by an accredited school. This means that the programs and faculty have been inspected for quality by a third-party education agency. 

OnlineU only includes accredited online institutions on its site.

Specifically, the University of Rhode Island is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education to offer certificates, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees as well as distance learning programs. 

URI is best known for its environmental innovation, which saw four research patents issued to the school in 2021. This included the MITRE BlueTech Lab, which helps advance undersea communication, and the "Plastics: Land to Sea" program that's working to solve the plastic pollution crisis. In total, URI received over $78 million in federal funding and $122 million in competitive grants for its research efforts. Several oceanic and environmental programs are available online, including the Natural Resources and the Environment Graduate Certificate.  

The highest earning degree at URI is the Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. According to College Scorecard, graduates of this program can expect to earn a median annual salary of approximately $86,400. However, this program is not available online. The next highest earning field is computer and information science, which has an expected salary of ~$79,000. There are no online degrees available at the bachelor's level, however graduate students can take the online Professional Science Masters in Cyber Security or the online Quantum Computing Graduate Certificate.

Prospective students can also look to OnlineU's proprietary Salary Score metric, which compares alumni salaries from different schools using the same degree. On a scale of 1 to 100, URI scores 59 at the bachelor's level and 51 at the master's degree level. 

College Scorecard reports that URI has an acceptance rate of 76%. This is generally considered significantly higher than other four-year universities. 

The minimum GPA score for students applying to URI is 2.75 on a 4.0 scale. They must also have at least 24 college credits and additional exceptional academic qualifications. Students that score between 2.5-2.74 may be eligible for enrollment if they've completed 45 credits and show signs of an increasing GPA. 

In order to apply to college at URI as a first-year student for the 2023 admissions cycle, applicants are not required to submit college entrance exam scores. However, the following steps must be completed when applying online: 

• Submit URI's online application through the Common App.
• Pay the $65 application fee or fill out the fee waiver. 
• Provide a list of senior courses that are in progress or completed.
• Provide a personal essay.
• Provide at least one letter of recommendation — preferably from a school counselor. 
• Submit final high school transcripts showing graduation.