Information Science/Studies at Johnson & Wales University-Providence

Information Science bachelor's programs nationally point to decent starting outcomes—around $58,651 in first-year earnings and $25,750 in debt. Johnson & Wales' program appears to track close to these national norms, with estimated debt of $26,694 producing a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.46. That's manageable territory: graduates could reasonably pay down their loans while building careers in tech, data analysis, or information management roles.

The challenge here is uncertainty. As the only school in Rhode Island offering this bachelor's degree in Information Science, Johnson & Wales has no local peers for comparison, and the small graduate cohort means we're working entirely from national estimates rather than program-specific outcomes. The school's 84% admission rate and modest SAT scores suggest a less selective environment, which sometimes correlates with weaker career services or employer networks—factors that matter significantly in tech-adjacent fields where internships and connections drive early placements.

For families considering this program, the national benchmarks suggest reasonable value, but you're essentially betting that Johnson & Wales can deliver outcomes similar to the broader field without evidence specific to this campus. If your child has alternatives with reported data—especially in neighboring Massachusetts where competition among tech employers is fierce—those programs would offer more certainty about return on investment.