History Degrees in Rhode Island

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Massachusetts Bay banished Roger Williams for arguing that magistrates had no business governing religious belief. In 1636 he bought land from the Narragansett and founded Providence, and the colony he built there guaranteed complete religious freedom at a time when almost nowhere else did. Rhode Island has been arguing about founding principles ever since. It teaches the subject at more colleges than a state this size usually supports, though only one takes it the whole way.

Rhode Island has 7 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 17 programs among them: 12 bachelor’s degrees, 4 master’s degrees, and 1 doctorate.

Brown University is the only school in the state carrying history from bachelor’s through doctorate. Everywhere else stops at the master’s or the bachelor’s.

Rhode Island at a Glance

Schools offering history	7
History programs	17
Bachelor’s / master’s / doctoral	12 / 4 / 1
Online programs	0
Schools offering all three levels	1
Lowest in-state tuition and fees	$11,300 per year
Largest history catalog	Salve Regina University, 4 programs

Program counts come from our directory. Tuition figures are annual in-state tuition and fees from the U.S. Department of Education, and exclude room and board.

Top History Schools in Rhode Island

As with every state we cover, we scored all 7 Rhode Island schools on four factors: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). Brown posts the highest four-year completion rate in the state at 96%, while Rhode Island College is the most affordable school on the list at $11,300 in state. Because Rhode Island has so few schools offering history, we publish a top three instead of a longer list. Here are Rhode Island’s best history degrees.

1 Brown University

Brown holds the only history doctorate in Rhode Island, and it is the only school in the state where you can take the subject from an undergraduate concentration through a Ph.D. without leaving. Brown calls its majors concentrations, so the undergraduate degree is a history concentration, not a history major. Its 96% four-year completion rate is the highest in the state by a wide margin.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
Tuition and fees: $71,412

2 University of Rhode Island

URI is the state’s public research university and its most realistic route to a history master’s for a Rhode Island resident. It runs bachelor’s degrees in both history and art history alongside the master’s, at roughly a quarter of Brown’s price.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R2, high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $16,942

3 Rhode Island College

Rhode Island College matches the other two on catalog size, with bachelor’s degrees in history and art history plus a master’s in history, and does it for $11,300 a year. That makes it the cheapest history degree in the state at $11,300 against the University of Rhode Island’s $16,942, and one of only two history master’s programs in Rhode Island available at public rates.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $11,300

Brown is Rhode Island’s only R1 research university. One school outside this top three is worth naming: Salve Regina University in Newport carries 4 history programs, the largest catalog in the state, though all at the bachelor’s level and at private tuition.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Rhode Island

Rhode Island has one of the sharpest price cliffs in the country. Two schools sit at ordinary public rates, and the other five are private.

Most affordable history degrees in Rhode Island
Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Rhode Island College	Bachelor's in History	$11,300
2	University of Rhode Island	B.A. in History	$16,942
3	Roger Williams University	Bachelor's in History	$44,418
4	Salve Regina University	B.A. in American History	$50,100
5	Bryant University	Bachelor's in History	$52,677
6	Providence College	B.A. in History	$63,550
7	Brown University	Bachelor's in History	$71,412

Annual tuition and fees, in-state where applicable. The two public schools sit at $11,300 and $16,942. The next cheapest option, Roger Williams, is $44,418.

History Education in Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s history offering is mostly private. Five private nonprofit institutions carry 11 of the state’s 17 programs, and only two public schools, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, offer the subject at all. For a resident who wants a public-rate history degree, those two are the entire field.

That makes the transfer route unusually important here. The Joint Admissions Agreement lets students begin at the Community College of Rhode Island and finish a bachelor’s at either URI or Rhode Island College. URI attaches a tuition discount to it that scales with your community college GPA: 10% at a 3.00 to 3.24, 20% at 3.25 to 3.49, and 30% at 3.50 and above. Enroll in the agreement early, because eligibility requires having earned fewer than 30 college credits when you join.

Online study is the gap here. Nothing in our listings shows a fully online history degree at a Rhode Island school. If you need to study at a distance, you will most likely be enrolling somewhere else, and our guide to online history degrees covers the national options.

Becoming a History Teacher in Rhode Island

Rhode Island certifies secondary teachers by content area for grades 7 through 12, which means a single certificate covers middle and high school rather than splitting them.

The traditional route requires a bachelor’s degree with a major in, or closely related to, your certification area from a regionally accredited institution, plus a completed state-approved educator preparation program. Praxis exams follow, covering basic skills, subject-area knowledge, and pedagogy.

Because a history major sits squarely inside the certification area, a Rhode Island history degree paired with an approved preparation program is a direct path into the classroom. Rhode Island College, the cheapest history degree in the state, is also the state’s traditional teacher-preparation institution.

Confirm the current requirements with the Rhode Island Department of Education before choosing a program.

History Careers in Rhode Island

History Careers in Rhode Island
Occupation	Rhode Island jobs	Rhode Island median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	4,910	$92,610	+29%
Curators	70	$77,930	+23%
Archivists	40	$76,990	+19%

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Rhode Island figures for historians and postsecondary history teachers were not published, which is common in small states where the sample is too thin to report.

Rhode Island pays extremely well for this kind of work. Secondary school teachers earn a median $92,610, which is 29% above the national figure. Curators and archivists follow at 23% and 19% above national, so every occupation we can report here clears the national median.

The catch is volume. There are 70 curators and 40 archivists in the entire state, and the numbers for historians and postsecondary history teachers are too small for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish at all. Rhode Island pays well for these jobs because it has very few of them, and Boston is close enough that the regional market extends well beyond the state line.

History Resources in Rhode Island

Rhode Island Historical Society, the state’s principal historical organization, holding manuscript, graphic, and museum collections in Providence.
Rhode Island State Archives, held under the Secretary of State and containing more than 10 million letters, photographs, and state documents.
Newport Historical Society, founded 1854, holding the earliest Newport town records, merchant account books, and church records, along with 20,000 objects, 200,000 photographs, and 100,000 books and pamphlets published from the sixteenth century onward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Rhode Island University Has the Best History Program?

Brown ranks first in our scoring, holding the state’s only history doctorate and a 96% completion rate. For a Rhode Island resident paying in-state rates, though, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College offer the same three-program catalogs at $16,942 and $11,300 respectively against Brown’s $71,412.

Can You Get a History Degree Online in Rhode Island?

Not from a school inside the state, going by what we list. Rhode Island falls into a small group where we show no fully online history degree at any level, so distance learners will want to look at programs based elsewhere.

What Is the Cheapest History Degree in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island College at $11,300 a year in tuition and fees, which covers both its bachelor’s and master’s in history. The University of Rhode Island is next at $16,942. Every other school offering history in the state is private, starting at $44,418.

Is Rhode Island a Good State for a History Career?

It pays well and hires rarely. Secondary school teachers earn 29% above the national median and curators 23% above, but the state employs only 70 curators and 40 archivists in total, and the figures for historians are too small to publish. Proximity to Boston means the practical job market is regional, not confined to Rhode Island.