The University of Rhode Island has maintained its Wall Street Journal ranking as the No. 1 Public University in New England for the second consecutive year.
In the WSJ’s 2026 Best Colleges in the U.S. rankings, URI advanced by eight spots in terms of universities overall in the United States.
The WSJ ranking culminates the dedication of students, staff and faculty, according to University President Marc Parlange.
“Everybody contributed to this,” Parlange said. “[The ranking] really reflects the hard work of the entire community.”
During the 2024-2025 school year, URI received the R1 Research Institution ranking, the most prestigious research designation an institution can receive, along with the Schilling Award, the largest monetary scholarship for undergraduate STEM students in the university’s history.
“We’re a school on momentum and we’re just continuing to build on those successes,” Dean Libutti, associate vice president for enrollment management and student success, said.
Looking ahead, renovations to the Fine Arts Center are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year and Narragansett Bay Campus revitalizations are in the works.
Additionally, a new biomedical building is slated to be built on the Science Quad and a new study has set URI up to potentially start a medical school, according to Parlange and Vice President of Student Affairs Ellen Reynolds.
“We are working hard to revitalize the Narragansett Bay Campus, which is really the crown jewel of the Ocean State for ocean engineering, oceanography [and] the College of Environment and Life Sciences, so we’re really working on transforming that,” Parlange said.
The ranking follows the traditional hard work of the university, not the other way around, according to Libutti.
“This ranking values who we are and what we do, so we didn’t have to do anything different to maintain the ranking except for continue to follow our strategic plan of focusing on student success, creating an inclusive community, and really reimagining the services and support that we do,” Libutti said. “We’ve never been a school that’s waiting for a ranking.”
Also a URI alumna, Reynolds said the pride she felt as a result of this designation signaled the university’s bright future.
WSJ’s first ranking of URI as the No. 1 Public University in New England boosted applications for the class of 2029 with over 3300 first-year students attending total, according to Libutti and Reynolds. They are hopeful this trend will continue for the incoming class of 2030.
“We are no longer a quiet, best-kept secret in Rhode Island or New England, ” Libutti said. “We are becoming a national powerhouse of pride on student success and who we are as an institution.”
The combination of the repeat WSJ ranking and the R1 Research designation will attract students, especially undergraduates, looking to conduct research during their higher education careers, according to Reynolds.
“Who wouldn’t want to be at an R1 Institution?” Reynolds said.
Looking ahead for the 2025-2026 academic year, the combination of ranking and donations will continue to help the university expand, according to Libutti.
“These rankings are going to help us do even bigger, greater things nationally and internationally to help our students and faculty make an impact in the world,” Libutti said.
