KINGSTON, R.I. — Aug. 30, 2023 — The University of Rhode Island will welcome more than 3,250 first-year students to the Kingston Campus beginning Friday, Sept. 1, to open the 2023-24 academic year. 

Welcome activities will continue throughout the Labor Day weekend with fall classes set to begin on Wednesday, Sept. 6.  URI will enroll more than 17,000 students during the fall semester, among them are more than 500 transfer students and more than 2,000 graduate students. 

The University posted another strong year for undergraduate applications and a record year for applications to its graduate school. 

In addition to planned welcome activities, the academic year kicks off with a full slate of academic, athletic, and cultural events. 

URI President Marc Parlange and Mary Parlange, Vice President for Student Affairs Ellen Reynolds, and hundreds of URI staff and faculty members and students will welcome new and returning students to campus and assist them as they move into their on-campus residences. 

Nearly 5,700 students will live in 26 Kingston Campus residence halls as part of 14 living and learning communities. About 650 students will live in more than a dozen Greek houses, while about 100 more will reside in the Grandin International Engineering, Texas Instruments, and Talent Development Achievement houses.

MEDIA NOTE: President Parlange and other URI staff members will be available to the media on Friday, Sept. 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., during new-student move-in. To make coverage and parking arrangements, please contact Dave Lavallee, URI Communications and Marketing, at 401-874-5862; cell: 401-465-4291; email: dlavallee@uri.edu or Dawn Bergantino at (401) 874-4147; email: dawn_bergantino@uri.edu