As lawmakers consider legislation that would make Rhode Island College’s Hope Scholarship permanent, state and college officials argue that the school’s rebounding enrollment and student testimonials make a strong case for the program’s longevity.
The Hope Scholarship, which launched in fall 2023, provides two years of tuition-free education for eligible Rhode Island students during their junior and senior years at RIC.
But as it is now, the program is considered a pilot that will end in 2030, but both Gov. Daniel J. McKee and several state legislators have pushed for it to become a permanent feature despite its annual multimillion-dollar price tag.
RIC officials say the Hope Scholarship has been a driving force behind the resurgence in enrollment, which had been declining before 2023. The fall 2025 class was the largest in 15 years, and there was nearly a 10% increase in applications and a 40% increase in student transfers to the school, according to RIC President Jack R. Warner.
It's no wonder Warner supports making Hope permanent.
“I think there’s a lot of momentum for it, and I’m very pleased about it,” Warner told PBN. “I think that there are folks who might want to see the impact studied longer, but they would have to either make it permanent or extend it” to see that data.
It doesn't come without a cost. This fiscal year's state budget includes $5.2 million in funding for the Hope Scholarship program, and McKee's spending plans for fiscal 2027 allocate $7.1 million to the program, projecting an additional expenditure of between $7.2 million and $7.6 million each year through 2030.
Those dollar figures haven't deterred several state legislators who have submitted bills in the House and Senate to remove the 2030 "sunset" provision of the Hope Scholarship. Both measures have remained in their respective chamber’s finance committees.
In making the case for the permanent scholarship program at RIC, state Rep. Joseph M. McNamara said in its first year, 245 students received assistance through the program in fall 2023, with 98.2% passing all their fall courses.
"Many Rhode Island College students utilize Pell Grants," McNamara said. "This scholarship helps make up the difference, assisting those who are under a mountain of debt, and throwing them a lifeline."
The governor's office said 568 RIC students have received help paying tuition bills since the program started, and it has saved students about $4.8 million in that time.
Hope Scholarship is considered a last-dollar program, mean it is only pays what's left after other financial aid is applied.
To be eligible, students must live in Rhode Island; enroll at RIC full time as a first-time student; complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; maintain a 2.5 GPA; declare a major by the beginning of junior year; stay on track to graduate in four years while meeting credit requirements; and commit to living, working, or continuing their education in Rhode Island after graduating.
The Community College of Rhode Island offers a similar last-dollar scholarship program called the Rhode Island Promise, which started in 2017 as a pilot and became permanent four years later.
Rhode Island Promise comes with its own set of costs, needing a $7.5 million allocation this fiscal year and $8.1 million in fiscal 2027, according to McKee's budget proposal.
In addition, some officials suspected in its early years that CCRI's program was wooing students away from applying to RIC and eating away at its enrollment.
Now, RIC and CCRI have a joint admissions agreement that eases financial and logistical steps for students transferring between the colleges, although students who receive the Promise scholarship are not eligible for the Hope Scholarship.
But University of Rhode Island President Marc B. Parlange voiced dissatisfaction with URI’s lack of inclusion in a last-dollar scholarship program.
In a 2023 letter submitted to the House Finance Committee when the creation of the Hope program was under consideration, Parlange wrote that it would "limit access and, although unintended, discourage Rhode Islanders from pursuing the degrees and career paths that are offered at URI."
Speaking before the Finance Committee in February, Parlange reiterated this concern.
He acknowledged that the Hope Scholarship appears to have convinced more students to attend RIC, and noted that, with similar financial support, those students may have otherwise chosen to go to URI.
“I don’t think that’s fair to students when they were [also] admitted to the University of Rhode Island," Parlange said of the discrepancy in state-provided scholarship assistance.
He noted the university's range of opportunities and academic programs – not all of which are offered at RIC – such as engineering, pharmacy and numerous languages.
"All Rhode Islanders should have a choice," Parlange said. "They should be able to choose where they go, and they should be able to have the opportunity to study, truly, the world class programs that we have, so I do think scholarship support for the University of Rhode Island is key."
After a Hope Scholarship rally on the RIC campus on April 14, Warner acknowledged Parlange’s concerns, but said that URI already has its own advantages as a flagship research institution.
McKee attended the rally, where college and state officials emphasized they’re in “sales mode” as they advocate for the scholarship’s permanence.
“Education [is] what raises income, and that’s what the Hope Scholarship is about,” McKee said, “helping to provide opportunities and create career paths that can help young people enter into a career where they are skilled, and they’re productive and they have the ability to earn a good living.”
