Roger Williams University extends tuition freeze

ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY President Donald J. Farish said the university extended its tuition freeze for undergraduates and law school students another year. / COURTESY ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY
ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY President Donald J. Farish said the university extended its tuition freeze for undergraduates and law school students another year. / COURTESY ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY

BRISTOL – Freezing tuition for Roger Williams University undergraduates and law school students has been extended another year, and appears to be contributing to increased enrollment, university leaders say.
Undergraduate tuition has been frozen at $29,976 since 2012. Law school tuition reduced this year to $33,792 now extends to the 2015-16 academic year. Law school tuition was first reduced and frozen in January of 2014. Both tuition freezes come with guarantees of no increase in subsequent years for those students locking the rates in, said President Donald J. Farish.
At the same time, freshman enrollment at RWU has increased 15 percent in two years, while the number of first-year law students has increased 24 percent since last year, Farish said. The university originally launched the Affordable Excellence initiative in October 2012 after missing its target for new freshmen by 2 percent.
“Undergraduates at Roger Williams have seen no increase in tuition since 2012. To my knowledge, no other private university in this country has both frozen tuition for three years running and guaranteed that it won’t increase for students enrolled,” RWU President Donald J. Farish said.
“And while we are keeping cost in check, we’re also strengthening the academic experience at RWU. Both through formal surveys of our students and by the large size of our incoming class, it’s clear that Affordable Excellence is important to students and parents,” he said.
The Roger Williams University School of Law is one of only a half dozen out of 200 in the country to decrease tuition, said RWU Law Dean Michael J. Yelnosky.
“We have disrupted the market on cost,” Yelnosky said. “We’re now the best-priced, ABA-accredited private law school in the Northeast, and applicants are responding. The significant turnaround in our first-year enrollment is a clear indication that we’re giving students what they want – a high-quality, hands-on legal education at an affordable price.”
Besides the affordability measures, the university has expanded opportunities for project-based learning to amplify classroom learning with real-world skills and ensure that students graduate as “job-ready” as possible. For undergraduates, this includes collaborative research with faculty and internships, among other initiatives.
RWU Law has launched a new Community Economic Development Clinic in which students provide business-related legal services to nonprofits and community-based businesses. The law school also has expanded offerings at the Feinstein Center for Pro Bono and Experiential Education and instituted an explicit guarantee that every qualified student will participate in a substantial clinical experience.
“We are declaring ourselves partners with our students and parents, in ensuring an education that is affordable, excellent and preparatory for the post-collegiate job opportunities they’ll seek upon graduation,” Farish said.

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