Undergraduate Cost of Attendance

The cost of attendance (COA) is the estimated cost for a student to attend a school for one academic year. It includes tuition, mandatory fees, housing, food, books, supplies, course materials, transportation, and reasonable personal expenses. The COA estimates are more commonly known as a student budget.

Why is COA important?

Schools use the COA to determine a student's eligibility for financial aid, such as grants, scholarships/fellowships and loans.
The COA is one of the elements used to determine a student's financial need for federal student aid.

2025 - 2026 cost of attendance

Expense	Academic year	By semester
Tuition	$63,966	$31,983
Activity fee	$296	$148
Academic and technology fee	$874	$437
Estimated housing	$10,300	$5,150
Estimated food	$7,100	$3,550
Estimated books and supplies	$3,400	$1,700
Estimated personal expenses	$2,800	$1,400
Estimated travel	$1,700	$850
Estimated total cost of education	$90,436	$45,218

Please note: Undergraduate students who have had the on campus living requirement waived for their first and/or second year, and are commuting from their family home, will have the estimated housing removed from their cost of attendance, and the estimated travel will reflect $2,200 for the academic year.

2024 - 2025 cost of attendance

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Expense	Academic year	By semester
Tuition	$61,564	$30,782
Activity fee	$284	$142
Academic and technology fee	$840	$420
Estimated housing	$9,830	$4,915
Estimated food	$6,796	$3,398
Estimated books and supplies	$3,000	$1,500
Estimated transportation	$1,050	$525
Estimated total cost of education	$83,364	$41,682

Understand your costs

The estimated housing, food and other items in the chart above reflect the typical cost of attending RISD. These amounts can vary based on a variety of factors, including costs related to your degree program or whether you choose to enroll in our health insurance as opposed to a comparable plan.

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Learn more about student housing, including information about room and board plans and rates on the RISD Student Hub.

If you choose to reside off campus during your junior or senior year (or meet the conditions for living off campus during your first or second year and choose to do so) and do not take a RISD meal plan, we do not charge housing and dining charges. Rather, room and board figures become an estimate of possible non-RISD housing and dining costs.

If you reside on campus, you must leave your room in the same condition as you found it when you moved into your room. If it is found in lesser condition than it was when you moved onto campus, you could be subject to residence hall damage charges. These charges are assessed for violations of the housing contract, which include but are not limited to damages and vandalism.

Tuition and room charges for students participating in the First-Year in Florence program are the same as for students who reside in Providence for the entire first year. However, students in this program will not be charged for meals while in Florence, where they will need to purchase their own food and/or cook for themselves.

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At RISD, we require that all students have health insurance. You may waive our student health insurance if you are enrolled in a comparable, comprehensive, US-based health insurance policy. For questions regarding our insurance coverage, or to complete the online waiver, please consult University Health Plans for more information.

Unless you have submitted a waiver, enrolled students are charged $2,245 in the fall for the health insurance plan. If you have comparable coverage, you must submit the waiver by the fall bill deadline on an annual basis. Should you choose to utilize RISD’s health insurance, this cost may be added to your annual cost of attendance (COA) upon request.

Learn more about student health insurance

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In certain circumstances, you may be able to add the cost of a laptop and required software to your cost of attendance. Please contact our office for more information.

Learn more about RISD’s laptop program and find your department’s laptop requirements and recommendations through the link below.

Laptop program

Net price calculator

To assist you with early financial planning for college, our net price calculator helps estimate the total cost of attending RISD and provides a preliminary assessment of your financial aid eligibility.

Estimate your total cost

Experimental and Foundation Studies (EFS) summer program cost of attendance

Incoming transfer students may need to attend the EFS summer program. First-year EFS students making up classes during the summer will be billed on a per-course, per-credit basis.

Students enrolled in a summer program will be billed for the summer health insurance policy ($515).

Expense	Summer fee
Tuition	$10,202
Housing	$1,200
Estimated food	$660
Estimated books and supplies	$820
Estimated transportation	$450
Estimated personal expenses	$530
Estimated total cost of summer EFS program	$13,862

Please note: Undergraduate students who have had the on campus living requirement waived for the summer, and are commuting from their family home, will have the estimated housing removed from their cost of attendance.

Learn more about EFS

Get to know RISD

Find information you need to succeed and thrive at RISD through our Student Hub.

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New and incoming students

Find key dates and deadlines for what you need to do as an incoming RISD student, as well as info about course registration, transferring credits, campus resources and more.