Salve Regina University (SRU)

At Salve Regina University, students experience a transformative, values-based education rooted in the liberal arts tradition. Our oceanside campus in Newport, Rhode Island offers abundant opportunities to achieve academic excellence and nurture your distinct talents. Salve offers nearly 50 areas of study that provide our 2,100 undergraduate and 600 graduate students countless opportunities to cultivate a spirit of discovery. We connect the academic experience with real-world, professional opportunities for each student in our distinctive Salve Compass program, preparing graduates to be agents of change in their career and the world.

Salve Regina's student body is a diverse group of students, often involved in multiple organizations on campus and in the Newport community. Students at Salve Regina hail from over 40 states and 20 countries, coming from around the globe to study. With 2,100 undergraduate students and a three year on-campus residency requirement, Salve students form bonds with a community that lasts for a lifetime.

Highly engaged, almost 500 students on Salve Regina's campus are intercollegiate athletes, over 30 percent of students study abroad, and students completed over 10,000 hours of service to the local community.

With a wide variety of campus activities, student run organizations, and NCAA DIII athletic teams who compete in the NEWMAC conference, student leadership and involvement is a main component of the Salve Regina experience. Students have access to almost 70 student run organizations, ranging from social groups such as a Surfing Club to professional organizations like our award-winning Options Trading Club, American Marketing Association, and Enactus Club.

Salve Regina undergrads see themselves as “friendly and always willing to help.” The campus is a “close-knit community” of “kind and good-natured people who are hardworking and encouraging.” While some students note that “a few groups…[to] be very cliquey,” the overall environment is one where their peers “exhibit acts of respect every day.” While the school is based on a foundation of Catholicism and the Sisters of Mercy, students affirm that “it’s not expected [that] you be Catholic or believe in God.” Students relish the intimacy of their smaller campus, deeming the size fundamental to their ability to “connect with my professors and get to know them, making it easier for me to approach them if/when I need help,” and asserting that “I feel like I found more people just by socializing in class.” The smaller population can have drawbacks; as one student noted, “Social life can be limited at times, but if you try to get involved, it works out.” Most students note that they “prioritize studying first,” leading to classrooms where “discussions are lively because the students genuinely care” and where “students are treated with respect.”

“Newport, RI, is one of the most beautiful coastal towns in the country!”—a sentiment echoed by the vast majority of students at Salve, who “love spending time at the beach, outside and in nature” and “going downtown or taking a walk on the cliff walk.” In town, undergrads enjoy “visiting the historical places,” “trying new places to eat,” and just “experiencing the city of Newport [and] the nature of our island.” Life at this “welcoming college” includes abundant “community service opportunities” and “Mercy-based initiatives,” along with “great and extremely diverse” clubs representing an array of interests, including intramural sports, activities such as yoga and dance, the “Outdoor Adventure Club,” and academic groups like the Student Nursing Organization (SNO) and the Campus Activities Board (CAB), which sponsors social events throughout the year. Additionally, Salve has a competitive Division III varsity sports program, and “going to our school’s sports games” is a very popular pastime. While several students noted that the number of “events sponsored by the university [has] decreased in the past year,” the prevailing sentiment is that “there is a wide range of interests and passions on campus, and a club or activity that caters to almost all of them.”