A Cash-Strapped University Bet on Student Success — and Grew

When the University of Rhode Island hit a first-year retention record this year, Dean Libutti, a vice provost, drove to Allie’s Donuts, a North Kingstown institution, and ordered a doughnut cake in the shape of an 86. Technically, the retention rate was 85.9, but that would require an extra doughnut digit and decimal, and URI is a frugal place, still recovering from the severe budget cuts it sustained during the Great Recession.