Best DNP Programs

Providence metro

Best DNP Programs In Providence 2026

The only metro on this site where every accredited institution is public, which makes residency the whole question — and this metro asks it twice, because it crosses into Massachusetts.
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Key Takeaways

  1. 1

    Price will not narrow this list. The published in-state rates here sit inside a band of roughly 1.5 times, which is tight for a metro. That pushes the decision onto track, cohort size and who arranges the clinical placement.

  2. 2

    Every institution here is public. All 3 are public, so in-state status is the largest single number in your plan and it is set by the state that funds them rather than by how far you live from campus.

  3. 3

    Output is concentrated in one school. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth conferred 11 of the 21 DNP awards recorded across this metro, with Rhode Island College next at 5. A number that lopsided says where the cohorts and the placement relationships are, which a ranking position does not.

  4. 4

    1 of 3 reach you at a distance. That many carry the federal distance-education flag, which covers taught content and never the supervised practice hours. Ask for the number of on-campus days and the months they fall in.

Every Option Here Is Public, And The State Line Decides Which Rate You Pay

Rhode Island College, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth are all public institutions. Across the twenty-five metro guides on this site, this is the only metro where that is true — everywhere else the field is mixed or entirely private. It means there is no institution here that charges one rate regardless of where you live.

So residency does all the work, and the published gaps are large. Rhode Island College is $9,765 in-state against $25,764 out-of-state, the University of Rhode Island $14,630 against $34,834, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth $14,897 against $31,852. Every one of those roughly doubles or better for a non-resident.

The complication is that the metro spans two states, so "in-state" means different things inside one commuting area. A Rhode Island resident pays the in-state rate at two of the three and the out-of-state rate at the Massachusetts one; someone in southern Massachusetts has it the other way round. AANP classifies both states as full practice, so unlike most multi-state metros here the license is not what changes at the line. The bill is.

How This Ranking Is Scored

Three published figures, weighted. Scores are relative to the 3 institutions on this page and to nothing else.

  1. 50%

    Published in-state graduate tuition

    Institution-level. Published annual graduate tuition, not a DNP per-credit rate and not net of aid.

  2. 35%

    Established program

    Program-level. DNP conferrals in this CIP and award level in the reporting year, saturating at 25. Above that a program scores full marks and gains nothing further for size.

  3. 15%

    Institution-wide undergraduate completion

    Institution-level and undergraduate. The IPEDS 150%-of-normal-time rate for first-time, full-time bachelor's students.

Nothing is imputed. A program that does not publish a figure is scored on the ones it does publish, with the remaining weights renormalized; below 2 published figures it is listed without a position rather than ranked on a single number. Accreditation is a condition of appearing at all, not a factor that earns points. What the rubric cannot see.

Accredited Schools In The Providence Metro, Ranked

Ordered on the same three published figures the state guides use: in-state tuition, annual conferrals and completion rate. One row per institution, not per federal filing.

# Program In-state tuition DNP awards UG completion Score of 100
1 of 3 Rhode Island College Providence, RI · Public $9,765 5 48% 50
2 of 3 University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth North Dartmouth, MA · Public · offered online $14,897 11 52% 37.4
3 of 3 University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public $14,630 5 73% 17.6

What This Guide Counts As The Providence Metro

This guide follows the Providence-Warwick metropolitan statistical area, which reaches across the state line into southern Massachusetts. The University of Rhode Island is in Kingston, about forty minutes south of Providence, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is about the same distance east in North Dartmouth. All three are within a commute of the center of the metro, and all three are public.

Municipalities Included

  • Providence, RI
  • Kingston, RI
  • North Dartmouth, MA

Deliberately Not Included

  • Boston, MA An hour north and its own metro, with six accredited institutions and its own guide.
  • Worcester, MA A separate Massachusetts metro with an accredited institution of its own.
  • Warwick, RI Named in the metro title, but no institution in the accredited dataset reports it as its city.

The Best 3 DNP Programs In Providence, Ranked

Every scored institution above, with what it publishes and what it does not.

Ranked 1 of 3

Rhode Island College

Providence, RI

50 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)

Rhode Island College runs its DNP as two distinct programs. The BSN-to-DNP is a dual nurse practitioner route, and its adult-gerontology acute care option prepares you to certify as both a clinical nurse specialist and a nurse practitioner, so it is two credentials out of one program rather than the usual one. That route is mostly online and can be taken full or part time, but it wants at least a year of acute care behind you first. The MSN-to-DNP leadership program is the separate track for nurses who already hold a master’s. One administrative limit is worth knowing before you start: no more than six credits taken at the college as a non-matriculated student will count toward the degree, so testing the water has a ceiling.

In-State Tuition
$9,765
Out-Of-State
$25,764
DNP Awards
5
UG Completion
48%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 100
  • Established program 0
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 0

Visit Rhode Island College →

Ranked 2 of 3

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

North Dartmouth, MA

37.4 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)
  • Offered online

2 DNP tracks at this institution, Nursing practice (general), Psychiatric-mental health NP. Ranked once, on the largest.

Dartmouth restricts this program to New England and says so precisely. Your registered nurse license must be from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts or Rhode Island, your permanent residence must be in one of those states, and your supervised clinical hours have to happen there as well. All three conditions, not one of them. If you sit outside that footprint, stop here. For everyone inside it the arrangement is unusually clean: classes are asynchronous and fully remote except for one on-campus day each semester. The adult-gerontology primary care route from a bachelor’s runs on a four or five year plan, and the four-year version totals 1,008 practicum hours. Publishing an exact hour total against a named plan is rarer than it should be.

In-State Tuition
$14,897
Out-Of-State
$31,852
DNP Awards
11
UG Completion
52%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 0
  • Established program 100
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 16

Visit University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth →

Ranked 3 of 3

University of Rhode Island

Kingston, RI

17.6 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)

Rhode Island builds its post-master’s doctorate around traditional, complementary and integrative health, a genuine curricular commitment rather than a marketing angle, and one that sets it apart from the leadership-and-systems framing almost every other program uses. If integrative approaches are already part of how you practice, this is one of the few doctorates that treats that as the core rather than an elective. The program runs online. It is scoped to nurses who already hold a master’s, so the clinical core is assumed to be behind you and the emphasis falls on leadership and on applying evidence to patient-centered care.

In-State Tuition
$14,630
Out-Of-State
$34,834
DNP Awards
5
UG Completion
73%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 5.2
  • Established program 0
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 100

Visit University of Rhode Island →

Choosing A DNP Program In Providence

What studying in the Providence metro changes. The questions that apply wherever you study are on the national ranking page.

Settle your residency before you compare anything else

Across the 3 public institutions in the Providence metro publishing both rates, the out-of-state rate runs a median of 2.4 times the in-state one. At University of Rhode Island the gap is $20,204 a year on its own. Residency is decided by the state under its own rules and a distance program does not confer it, so for an out-of-state applicant this one question is worth more than the difference between most of the programs on this page. This metro crosses a state line, which sharpens it: two campuses within the same commute are billed by different legislatures, and which of them is your in-state option is decided by your address rather than by your drive.

A field of 3 is small enough to contact all of it

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Rhode Island College and University of Rhode Island are the accredited doctorates in the Providence metro, which is few enough that writing to every one of them is a morning's work rather than a project. It is also the fastest way to learn what no program page prints: who secures your clinical placement, what the school charges if a doctoral project runs past its term, and which tracks are open to new applicants this cycle. Against a field this size, a reply beats a rubric.

The Rhode Island board of nursing decides the license, not the diploma

No doctorate confers authority to practice or prescribe. That authority comes from an advanced practice license the state issues and the national certification behind it, which is why a DNP-prepared and a master's-prepared nurse practitioner on the same license prescribe the same things. What varies between states is the licensure requirement itself, so take it from the board rather than from a program page, and take it early: several programs want an active license in the state where your practicum will happen rather than wherever you hold one now, and licensure by endorsement runs to months. What the degree does and does not grant sets out the distinction.

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth carries the distance flag

1 of the 3 measured institutions in the Providence metro carry it. That flag records only that taught content can be delivered at a distance. It says nothing about campus days, and nothing about the supervised practice hours, which happen in a building with a preceptor present wherever you enroll. Ask for the number of on-campus days and the months they fall in, because that is what you hold against a roster. Online DNP programs ranks the distance-flagged field nationally.

Every measured program here is public, which puts residency at the center

All 3 measured institutions in the Providence metro are public, so every published rate on this page depends on residency. A private institution charges one figure to everyone, and there is no private option in the Providence metro to fall back on if you cannot establish residency. That makes the residency question decisive rather than merely expensive, and it is worth settling with the university's registrar before you apply rather than after.

A metro is a commute, and Rhode Island is the field

This page covers the institutions inside the Providence area because a campus you can reach on a weekday is a different proposition from one you cannot. It is a narrower field than the one you are actually choosing from: DNP programs in Rhode Island carries every accredited institution in the state, and for a program you would attend at a distance the metro boundary means nothing at all.

Who Licenses You, And Which Side Of The Line You Are On

Practice environment from AANP’s own state fact sheets, read 2026-09-08; AANP last revised the classification 05/2026. Boards from the NCSBN member directory, read 2026-09-08.

Rhode Island
Full Practice
Rhode Island Board of Nurse Registration and Nursing Education
Massachusetts
Full Practice
0

Every institution on this page sits in Rhode Island, so one board licenses all of them and AANP classifies the jurisdiction as full practice. The school does not grant practice authority and never has; the license and the certification behind it do.

The board detail, the full AANP definition and the license verification route are on the state guides: DNP programs in Rhode Island and DNP programs in Massachusetts . AANP is reading state statute rather than issuing a federal designation, and statutes move each legislative session, so confirm with the board before you rely on it.

What The Work Pays In The Providence Metro

BLS OEWS, May 2025, metropolitan area cut for Providence-Warwick, RI-MA, read 2026-09-10. BLS classifies by occupation, not by credential: there is no DNP wage series, and every figure here covers everyone in the occupation regardless of which degree they hold.

OccupationMedian, Providence metroEmployedNational median
Nurse Practitioners29-1171$135,5201,540$132,300
Registered Nurses29-1141$99,88015,180$97,550
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary25-1072$81,810370$80,250

One occupation is missing from the table above: nurse anesthetists. BLS suppresses metropolitan cells independently per occupation, usually where the employed count is too small to publish without identifying an employer, so a blank means the figure was not released for this metro rather than that nobody does the work here. Nationally the median is $236,590.

Nurse practitioners in the Providence metro have a median of $135,520, across about 1,540 of them, $3,220 above the national $132,300. The two state figures behind this metro differ from each other as well: Rhode Island at $135,970 and Massachusetts at $142,440, which is a real gap for a metro people commute across.

A median is the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid, so half earn less and half earn more; it is not a starting salary and not an offer. The metropolitan cut is a different survey area from the state one, so these figures will not reconcile with the state page and are not meant to. How BLS defines these areas .

Shortage Areas, And The Debt Relief Attached To Them

HRSA designated primary-care Health Professional Shortage Areas, read 2026-09-08. These are state counts, not metro ones.

Rhode Island, designated areas
14
Rhode Island, of those rural
2
Massachusetts, designated areas
64
Massachusetts, of those rural
10

These figures cover Rhode Island and Massachusetts in full rather than the Providence metro specifically. HRSA publishes designations at the level of the individual area, and rolling them into a metro needs a county crosswalk this guide does not hold, so the state count is what is shown and it is shown as a state count. What follows from it still applies here, because eligibility never attached to a jurisdiction in the first place.

Both federal loan repayment routes open to advanced practice nurses require working at an approved site inside a designated area, and the area’s score sets funding priority when applications outrun the money: Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program and NHSC Loan Repayment Program. HPSA primary-care scores run 0-25; funding priority for loan repayment follows the score.

In a metro that is mostly urban the practical consequence is that eligible sites are a smaller share of the employers you are likely to interview with than the state count suggests, and they are usually federally qualified health centers, public hospital systems and university clinics rather than private practices. Because this metro spans a state line, a site on either side can qualify, and which state it sits in changes nothing about the federal programs. Whether a particular employer counts is settled by the program rather than by the designation, so check the site before you take the job.

HRSA’s shortage-area data portal maps the designations to the address. Paying for a DNP covers the routes that do not depend on where you practice, and the state guides break the designations down further: Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Studying From Outside The Providence Metro

1 of the 3 accredited doctorates in the Providence metro carry the federal distance-education flag, which leaves most of the local field expecting you in the room and makes an out-of-state program a real comparison rather than a fallback. Either way it turns on one thing this site cannot answer for you.

Authority to enroll a distance student is set per institution and per state, and the federal flag this page counts records delivery rather than permission, so only the school can answer it. Ask two things before tuition enters the conversation: whether the program can enroll a resident of the Providence metro this cycle, and whether it will place you for supervised clinical hours near where you live.

Which Providence Option Fits Your Situation

Each of these routes to a published figure or a named institution. None is a recommendation, and none is a statement about whether a school will admit you.

If the published price is what decides it: Rhode Island College

The lowest published in-state rate among Providence's publics, at $9,765 a year. An annual rate, not a program total, and it assumes residency.

If you are moving to Providence: settle residency before you apply

University of Rhode Island publishes a $20,204 annual gap between its in-state and out-of-state rates, the widest of the 3 Providence publics publishing both. Start with the registrar, not admissions.

If you hold a bachelor's: University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth states that route

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth's own pages name a bachelor's entry. Others in Providence may take bachelor's entrants too: this site records a route only where the school states it, so an absent name means unread rather than closed.

If you already hold an advanced practice credential: University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth publishes a post-master's route, the shorter way in when your master's already carries supervised hours. Ask how many transfer; the ceilings differ sharply.

If you cannot relocate: University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth carries the federal distance-education flag. The flag covers taught content only. Supervised hours still happen near you, and campus days are the school's to set, so ask for the count and the months.

What The Figures On This Page Are

Tuition is the institution’s published annual graduate rate, not a per-credit price and not a program total. Awards are conferrals in the reporting year. Completion is the federal undergraduate rate, the weakest input in the model, and no federal series reports DNP completion. Wages are the metropolitan cut of the federal survey, a different survey area from the state one. How this site scores programs sets out each input and its weight in full.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many DNP programs are there in Providence?

3 institutions in the Providence metro hold CCNE accreditation for the Doctor of Nursing Practice. This guide counts the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan statistical area rather than the city limits, so the figure includes institutions in 3 municipalities.

What counts as the Providence metro on this page?

The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan statistical area. In practice that means these municipalities: Providence, RI; Kingston, RI; North Dartmouth, MA. Places deliberately left out are listed on this page with the reason.

Is it cheaper to study for a DNP in Providence than online?

Neither is reliably cheaper. Published in-state tuition at a public institution is usually the lowest figure available to someone who qualifies for it, and distance programs charge a single rate to everyone regardless of where they live. Which comes out lower depends entirely on whether you hold in-state status somewhere, so compare the published rates rather than the format.

Do these figures include fees and clinical costs?

No. Every tuition figure on this page is the published rate an institution reports to the federal government, which excludes fees, health insurance, textbooks and the travel a clinical placement can require. Treat it as a floor for comparison between institutions rather than a total cost of attendance.

Related Pages

Sources

  1. 1 CCNE Directory Of Accredited Programs Which institutions hold accreditation.
  2. 2 IPEDS Published tuition, conferrals and completion.
  3. 3 Metro Definition The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan statistical area, rolled up to the municipalities listed above. Institutions are matched on city and state.

Every federal figure on this site is read from the administering agency’s own page, never from a secondary aggregator, and the reading date is recorded beside it.

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