Software Engineering Degrees Near Providence for 2027
The Providence area has 1 program titled software engineering at 1 school, and 5 computer science programs. This guide covers each one, what it costs, and what software developers earn in the metro area. Fewer than 5 programs titled software engineering sit inside Providence’s city limits, so this guide covers the whole Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
1
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
0
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
5
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$130,690
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01The Providence area has 1 degree titled software engineering, a bachelor’s, at 1 school, plus 5 computer science programs. Massachusetts-Dartmouth ranks first among the area’s bachelor’s programs, with a score of 36.2 out of 100, #56 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page. It is Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s bachelor’s (25 miles from Providence’s center). Across Rhode Island as a whole, 0 programs carry the title.
02Software developers in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area earned a median of $130,690 in May 2025, against $130,590 across Rhode Island and $135,980 nationally. The metro area employed 5,020 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
03Prices near Providence were 1.8% above the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 103.9 against a national 100. At national prices, the metro area’s developer median goes as far as about $128,380. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
04This page covers the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area only. The Rhode Island guide covers all 0 programs titled software engineering across the state, 0 bachelor’s and 0 master’s, with the same comparisons of cost and pay, so a program elsewhere in the state can be weighed against one here.
05If nothing near Providence fits, the degree can be taken online. The highest-scoring online programs in our rankings are Kennesaw State’s bachelor’s, at 72.5 out of 100, and Kennesaw State’s master’s, at 67.6. Check with each school that it enrolls students living where you do before you apply.
This guide
Studying software engineering here
A degree titled software engineering puts design, testing and the management of large software projects at the center, where computer science centers on computation itself. Providence offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 1 bachelor’s or master’s degree near Providence titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the area’s 5 bachelor’s and master’s programs in computer science, from federal data.
Online programs: software engineering degrees from our rankings that can be completed online.
Not included: associate degrees, certificates, bootcamps, doctoral programs and degrees in related fields such as information technology.
Methodology
How we ranked these programs
Programs near Providence are ranked against each other at the same degree level, highest score first. The score is out of 100 and comes from our national rankings, so a program carries the same score on every page of this site. It isn’t curved for Providence: each factor is measured against fixed national standards, which is why even the strongest program here can sit well below 100.
The bachelor’s score
Massachusetts-Dartmouth: #56 of 75 nationally
No software engineering bachelor’s is inside Providence’s city limits
The highest score in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area is Massachusetts-Dartmouth in North Dartmouth, MA, 36.2 out of 100. Across the country the median bachelor’s score is 56.7 and the highest is 87.0. Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s biggest gap is ABET accreditation, where it earns 0 of 25 points. Every scored program is in Best Bachelor’s in Software Engineering.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost25 pts
The school’s average net price after grants (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $12,00025 pts
$12,000 to $15,99920 pts
$16,000 to $19,99915 pts
$20,000 to $24,99910 pts
$25,000 to $31,9995 pts
$32,000 or more0 pts
Completion35 pts
The school’s eight-year completion rate for all entering students (IPEDS Outcome Measures), as a share of the points.
ABET accreditation25 pts
Full points if the program is on ABET’s own accredited list, none if not.
Program size15 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 100.
Each program is ranked against the others near Providence at the same degree level, by the score our national rankings use. Tuition is IPEDS 2023–24; grad rate is the school’s. Full details for a ranked program are on its ranking page.
Bachelor’s
Master’s
Top 3 near Providence
Not ranked
Bachelor’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near Providence
36.2of 100
Massachusetts-Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA · about 25 mi from central Providence
BSCampus
In-state
$14,533
Out-of-state
$31,075
Completion
57%
Accelerated BS/MS saves 9 credits
At UMass Dartmouth, software engineering is a concentration inside the Computer Science bachelor's degree, not a separate major. The major is 60 credit hours inside at least 120 overall. The core includes Object-Oriented Programming, Systems Programming, Software Specification & Design, Algorithms & Data Structures, Foundations of Secure Computing and Models of Computation, with Discrete Mathematics I and II and two semesters of calculus. The concentration requires Software Architecture & Design plus two more courses from Software Process and Project Management, Secure Software Development, Formal Methods for Software Engineering, Software Development for the Web and Software Testing & Automation, along with one more CIS course at the 400 level.
Seniors take Senior Software Engineering Project I and II, and most senior engineering students work in small teams on a real-world, industry-specific challenge. Every CIS course needs a C or better to progress, and you need a 2.000 GPA both overall and in the major. Admission is test optional and expects 17 college preparatory courses, including four units of mathematics. The college offers co-op and internship programs. An accelerated BS/MS option in computer science lets qualified students finish both degrees with 9 fewer credits than taking them separately. The Computer Science program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET.
Compare
Programs side by side
Providence software engineering programs compared, by level
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, at the program’s level (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average). Grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students. Grads/yr: IPEDS, three-year average. ABET: ABET’s list, retrieved 2026-09-30. #: the program’s rank among Providence’s ranked programs at its level; NR, not ranked. Score: out of 100, the same score as on the ranking pages.
Nearby
Within driving distance
Programs in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area whose campus is outside Providence’s city limits.
City limits: Census TIGER incorporated place boundaries; campus locations: IPEDS 2024. Distances are straight-line miles from the city’s Census internal point, rounded.
Computer science
Computer science programs
4 schools, 5 programs in the table below.
Computer science is the neighboring degree, and many software engineers hold it. 1 program names a software engineering track, tagged below. These rows come from federal data, not from each school’s page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, in-state, before fees and aid; undergraduate for a bachelor’s, and for a master’s the school-wide average across graduate students, which excludes program fees. School grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students (IPEDS); N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. ABET: on ABET’s computing (CAC) or engineering (EAC) list, retrieved 2026-10-05; a blank cell means not accredited. A school is in the table when it has at least two of a tuition figure, a grad rate or ABET accreditation, and a program page we could link; the rest are listed under it. SE track: named on the school’s own page.
Cost
What it costs
Private
$52,151
median of 4 schools
Prices near Providence were 101.8 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 103.9, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Regional Price Parities. 2024 is BEA’s latest year, a year behind the May 2025 pay figures on this page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 undergraduate tuition, one figure per school, for the 4 schools with a bachelor’s program in this guide; a median needs at least 3 schools. Excludes fees, housing and aid. Prices: BEA Regional Price Parities by metro area, 2024, all items and housing services.
Job market
The software job market
The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area employed 5,020 software developers in May 2025. Nationally, BLS projects software developer jobs to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025, Providence-Warwick, RI-MA. Metro estimates are published for fewer occupations than state estimates; the occupations BLS doesn’t publish here are left out. Growth: BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35, national.
Who hires
Who hires software developers
We don’t list company names: no source counts software hiring by employer the same way in every metro. What the Census Bureau does count is the businesses themselves, by industry, in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area.
Industry
Businesses
Employees
Payroll per employee
Computer systems design and related services
469
7,541
$115,700
Software publishers
71
1,856
$129,600
Data processing, hosting and related services
57
694
$87,900
Computer and electronic product manufacturing
67
5,272
$118,600
The first three of those industries employ 1.6% of the metro area’s private-sector workers, against 2.6% nationally, below the national share.
Of these industries, computer systems design and related services employs the most people in the metro area, 7,541, while software publishers pays the most per employee, $129,600.
Businesses, employees (mid-March) and annual payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metropolitan areas and United States (cbp23msa, cbp23us), private sector, Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area; payroll per employee covers every job in the industry, not only developers.
Pay
What software developers earn
$84,13010th
$101,95025th
$130,690median
$159,54075th
$172,09090th
Software developers, Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The metro area’s median is $130,690, $5,290 below the national $135,980. Half of the metro area’s software developers earn between $101,950 and $159,540.
BEA puts prices in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area at 101.8 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $128,380 would nationally, $7,600 less than the national median.
BEA price parities, 2024; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025.
Steps
How to become a software engineer
The path to software engineering near Providence is the same one people take everywhere: a degree, real experience before you graduate, and a first job search. What changes is the schools you can choose from and who’s hiring nearby. Here are the five steps, with Providence’s options in each.
1
Start with a bachelor’s degree
Most software developer jobs ask for a bachelor's degree, and you don’t need work experience to get your first one. Around Providence you’ve got one bachelor’s program titled software engineering, at Massachusetts-Dartmouth, plus eight computer science bachelor’s programs across the metro if you want a wider net. Before you fall for one, compare what they cost; the tuition figures above make that quick.
2
Pick between software engineering and computer science
Employers hire from both majors. Software engineering leans toward building and maintaining large systems as a team; computer science gives you a broader base in theory. Around Providence, that’s one software engineering program and ten computer science programs across the metro, so you really can choose. One of the city’s computer science programs runs a software engineering track, which gets you some of both. An easy way to decide: put Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s course list next to Brown’s and see which you’d rather spend four years in. Compare them.
3
Build experience before you graduate
Internships are often what turn a degree into a job offer. When you talk to Massachusetts-Dartmouth, ask how they connect students with internships. Look for a capstone where you build real software with a team; it gives you something concrete to talk about in interviews. With 469 computer systems design firms in the metro, a summer role close to home is realistic.
4
Know where licensing stands
You don’t need a license to work as a software engineer, and there’s no longer a licensing exam for it: the last one was given in April 2019. Accreditation still matters if you might want a license or certification later, since those often ask for an ABET-accredited degree. The closest accredited software engineering program to Providence is Quinnipiac’s bachelor’s in Hamden, about 81 miles away. Check any program’s accreditation before you apply.
5
Look for your first job nearby
The Providence area had 5,020 software developers in May 2025, earning a median of $130,690. The biggest software industries here are computer systems design (7,541 jobs) and computer and electronics manufacturing (5,272 jobs), so start your search with those firms. Ask your program which local employers hire its graduates, and go to its career fairs from your first year. Across the country there are about 95,300 openings a year, so you can widen the search if you’re willing to move.
Online options
Online software engineering degrees
If no program near Providence fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living near Providence.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 out-of-state, the rate an online student from another state usually pays (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average); a published rate is the school’s own price. National rank and score: our national ranking at the program’s level.
How many software engineering programs are near Providence?
1 degree titled software engineering, a bachelor’s, at 1 school. 0 of them are on ABET’s accredited list.
What is the best software engineering school near Providence?
Massachusetts-Dartmouth ranks first of the 1 ranked bachelor’s programs near Providence, with a score of 36.2 out of 100 (#56 nationally). The score combines completion, net price, ABET accreditation and program size.
How much do software engineers make near Providence?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $130,690 near Providence in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $84,130 and the 90th $172,090.
Is Providence pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts Providence’s prices at 101.8 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $130,690 is worth about $128,380 at national prices.
Who hires software engineers near Providence?
No source counts software hiring by company the same way in every metro, so we don’t name employers. The Census Bureau counted 469 computer systems design businesses in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area in 2023, employing 7,541 people. Nationally, the industries that employ the most software developers are computer systems design and related services, software publishers and management of companies and enterprises.
Can Providence residents take a software engineering degree online?
Yes. Kennesaw State, Minnesota-Crookston and University of Arizona are among the online software engineering programs in our rankings. Check with each school that it enrolls students living near Providence.
2NCES IPEDS institutional charges, 2023–24Tuition at the program’s level, and undergraduate tuition per school for the cost medians. Excludes fees, housing and aid.
3NCES IPEDS graduation ratesThe school’s six-year graduation rate, for the whole school rather than the program; IPEDS DRVGR2023 where the main pull has no figure.
4Each school’s own program pageProgram name, delivery, credits, and every bullet on the program cards, quoted from the saved page. Read .
12NCES IPEDS HD2024: campus coordinatesCampus latitude and longitude, for the distance from Providence to the nearest ABET-accredited software engineering program (straight line).
