Private nonprofit · Providence, RI
Johnson & Wales University-Providence
4,032 full-time students in fall 2024 and college-controlled housing for 2,430: about 60.3 beds for every 100 full-time students. The other 1,602 live somewhere the college doesn't control. That is the outer edge of the private market, before you take out commuters and students living with family.
Enrollment
Of 4,303 students enrolled in fall 2024, 3,908 were undergraduates and 395 graduate students. 1% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount fell by 69 from fall 2023 (−1.6%).
Housing the college controls
IPEDS counts 2,430 beds of institutionally controlled housing for 2024-25. That figure is the school's own capacity, on or off campus, so it includes halls the college leases or manages but not private buildings that simply market to students. Capacity grew by 182 beds from the year before (2,248 in 2023-24).
What students pay
The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $13,000 for the academic year, roughly $1,444 a month spread over nine months. Food added $6,800. For aid purposes the school budgets $19,800 for food and housing on campus and $12,200 for a student living off campus away from family, $7,600 less.
Those are the college's own figures. Private by-the-bed rents near campus can sit well above or below them, so check current asking rents before you underwrite a project.
How lenders read a campus like this
At 4,303 students the campus is below the 10,000-student minimum in Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide for Dedicated Student Housing (Part III, Chapter 1, section 103.01). Freddie Mac has no stated enrollment floor, but its own product summary says most of its student housing loans are at schools with 15,000 or more students. Banks, debt funds and conventional multifamily programs are the likelier lenders here.
To size a specific property, use the student housing loan sizer. It works by the bed and shows which constraint sets the loan.
Among the 7 Rhode Island campuses on this site, Johnson & Wales University-Providence ranks number 4 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Rhode Island table.
Other campuses in Providence
- Brown University: 11,046 full-time, 5,427 beds
- Providence College: 4,414 full-time, 3,335 beds
- Rhode Island College: 4,657 full-time, 980 beds
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total enrollment, fall 2024 | 4,303 |
| Total enrollment, fall 2023 | 4,372 |
| Full-time students | 4,032 |
| Undergraduates (full-time) | 3,908 (3,761) |
| Graduate students | 395 |
| Exclusively online | 1% |
| College-controlled housing capacity, 2024-25 | 2,430 |
| Capacity, 2023-24 | 2,248 |
| Beds per 100 full-time students | 60.3 |
| Typical housing charge, academic year | $13,000 |
| Typical food charge, academic year | $6,800 |
| Aid budget, food and housing on campus | $19,800 |
| Aid budget, food and housing off campus | $12,200 |
| All first-time, full-time students required to live in college housing | No |
| Combined food and housing charge (if not split) | not reported |
IPEDS unit ID 217235. Providence County. School website. Figures are as the institution reported them to the National Center for Education Statistics. The live-on question asks whether every first-time, full-time student must live in college housing; a school with exemptions or a later-year requirement can answer no. How this data is built.