Financing Your Education

We want to assist all students and families in reaching their shared goal of attending RISD, so you can prepare to make meaningful contributions to the world through art and design. 

RISD offers many types of student aid through various programs, helping qualified students seek, obtain and make the best use of available resources to meet the cost of a RISD education.

More info from Student Financial Services

Form submission and deadlines

Domestic students (US citizens and permanent residents)

To be considered for the resources described below, you must complete and submit the following two forms by the posted deadline:

International students (new for 2023–24)

In an effort to better serve our international population we are pleased to announce that, starting with the 2023–24 academic year, we have an international student aid application available. You will need to submit the institutional financial aid form through the Admissions applicant status portal. This will be available to applicants who complete their application for admission.

Deadlines

Your form(s) should be submitted by

  • Nov 15 for early decision
  • Feb 15 for regular decision

Please refer to SFS Undergraduate Aid for full details about:

  • RISD scholarships
  • federal and state grants
  • loans
  • work study opportunities

RISD scholarships consideration

To be considered for a RISD scholarship, first-year applicants must complete the FAFSA (US citizens and permanent residents) and RISD institutional financial aid form (domestic and international students).

RISD scholarships are awarded based on financial need at the time of admission. These scholarships assume full-time enrollment and are level-funded through the regular length of a student’s program.

Proportionate increases are applied to any increases in tuition costs for future years. For example, if tuition increases 1% from one academic year to another, the RISD scholarship will also increase by 1% from one academic year to the next.