Crystal Williams

Dear RISD Community,

The Board of Trustees met for its winter meeting in February, where they engaged with RISD cabinet leaders, students, alums, academic leaders, and faculty in addition to approving the tuition, fees, room and board rates for the next academic year (see below for details). Trustees also learned about important and notable endeavors the college is moving forward to uphold its educational excellence and its place in the world of art and design, including the creation of the new Computation, Technology, and Culture major, set to fully launch in the next academic year. Trustees heard updates on enrollment trends, the launch of the RISD Museum’s new strategic plan, had lunch with students, heard from a graduate student, an alum who founded Artolution, and Faculty Steering Committee leaders.  

For the 2025–26 academic year, the board approved an increase for tuition, room and board and student fees of 3.9% (see rates below), which is a smaller increase than the previous academic year. We continue to work to keep tuition and fees as low as feasible and simultaneously offer students the strongest educational experience possible. This rate increase helps meet some of the rising costs of goods and services that contribute to providing a high-quality student experience.

We remain committed to making a RISD education as accessible to as many students as possible; therefore, we will also increase the financial aid budget by 8% for the 2025–26 academic year. This allows us to

(a) continue to increase the number of students on financial aid, and 

(b) ensure current students receiving financial aid are not impacted by increasing their aid awards 3.9%, covering the additional tuition expense. 

RISD carefully considers its financial obligations and strives to keep tuition increases as minimal as possible while ensuring the resources and infrastructure required to operate a world class art and design school. Despite significant headwinds, our institution remains in an enviable position in higher education. We continue to attract large numbers of talented prospective students and have an exceptionally low admissions rate, which impacts and transforms the lives of emerging artists and designers positively as a result.

Thank you for your contributions to this extraordinary place. 

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams (she/her)
President 

Rhode Island School of Design Tuition and Fee Schedule 
2025–26 Academic Year
Effective Summer 2025

Dear RISD Community,

One of the many aspects that allows our institution to realize its mission is the diversity within our community.

Each year, I marvel at the number of countries, cities, towns and villages from which we hail, the multitude of languages we speak, our wide-ranging faith practices, gender expressions, sexual orientations and the variety of ways that we experience and view the world. Each of us brings characteristics, identities and perspectives that help make RISD the innovative, creative, welcoming, empathetic and caring place it is. Human heterogeneity—our diversity—is vital to educating our students in the creation of powerful art and design and helps ensure RISD graduates become influential interlocutors, artists and designers worldwide.

Many members of our community carry multiple and layered identities that are under direct attack, causing a range of emotions from fear and anxiety to anger and being overwhelmed. Please know that at RISD, we will continue to affirm our values, including our unwavering commitment to honoring the humanity, dignity, and well-being of everyone who lives, works and studies here. 

Maintaining a Safe and Supportive Campus Community

• RISD’s campus is a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, no matter their backgrounds or viewpoints. Our policies and protocols are designed to ensure that community members experience safety and respect on campus and can navigate facilities with dignity.  

• As new executive orders and federal regulations emerge and evolve, we will continue to prioritize the safety of all students, staff and faculty in compliance with the law.

• We will continue to equip community members with training and information to address dynamic situations with collegiality, confidence and care, ensuring our campus community remains welcoming. 

As we maneuver through this changing environment in the weeks and months ahead, let us remember to engage each other with gentleness and kindness. RISD is a global community—more than 32,000 strong—that holds unlimited potential to help address the world’s most complex challenges. Members of the leadership team will continue to monitor, assess and address developments related to new federal regulations and executive orders and share regular updates on our website. Thank you for your kindness and care as we navigate this challenging landscape together. 

Take good care,

Crystal Williams (she/her)
President

Dear RISD Community,

I am devastated to inform you of the death of another student last night. RISD Public Safety is cooperating with Providence Police to investigate this second incident. While the investigation is active, and RISD officials are in contact with the student’s family, we are unable to release any details.  At this time we do not believe the two tragedies yesterday are related, and there is no imminent threat to our campus community.

Losing two students in one day is an incomprehensible loss for our community and to the families. The days ahead may be difficult for many of us as we grapple with the meaning and realities of such loss. I urge each of us to embrace generosity and kindness and to be patient with one another. Navigating grief, especially in complex times, is hard–and in a community as tightly knit as ours, the best balm is lovingness. So please exhibit as much of it as you can.

Students seeking support from Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) may request an appointment with a counselor by calling 401 454-6637. CAPS will be open today from 8:30am-4:30pm. Outside of CAPS hours, any student who calls that number will still reach a live person therapist who can assist. Students may also contact Student Life via email at StudentLife@risd.edu to be directed to available campus resources.

For any faculty or staff needing personal support, Coastline EAP, our Employee Assistance provider, offers confidential counseling and referral/resource services 24 hours a day at 800 445-1195.

Once again, we encourage anyone who needs support to take advantage of these resources. In addition, we ask anyone who is concerned about the wellbeing of a RISD community member to contact RISD Public Safety at 401 454-6666, our counseling office at 401 454-6637, or to submit a Concern Assessment Response Evaluation (CARE) referral. 

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams (she/her)
President