Urban Arts’ free College Access Program blends practical, hands-on learning with essential college prep, helping our high school game design students approach the college application process with confidence and creativity. Our goal is to guide you through every step—from exploring majors and careers to refining essays, managing applications, and planning finances—so you are more likely to graduate college debt-free and ready to succeed.
College grads earn $30,000+ more annually and over $1.2 million more in a lifetime compared to high school graduates.
Bachelor’s degrees lead to lower unemployment rates and open doors to better, more stable jobs.
Computer Science grads start with $94K+ salaries, and tech jobs are growing 26% by 2033—faster than any other field!
Our students also earn full rides or substantial scholarships as QuestBridge Scholars, POSSE Scholars, Golden Door Scholars, Earl Woods Scholars, Amazon Future Engineer Scholars and more.
Urban Arts helped launch the first-ever, four-year, public-option Digital Game Design degree, now offered at CUNY’s City College of New York! Learn more here.
Meet our 2026 Nagler Scholar, Rafael
Rafael, a Queens senior, at Thomas Edison Career & Technical Education High School focussing on pre-engineering and robotics. His stepfather, an electrician, boosted his interest in hands-on projects and circuitry at a young age. Rafael, with a creator’s mindset, tinkered with elevator models and bike safety systems, dedicated to community impact through engineering. When switching high schools, he founded a Dungeons & Dragons club to build community and develop confidence. This initiative even recruited new Urban Arts students! Rafael loves to produce original music using Ableton and BandLab and is currently working on his first album.Rafael will be majoring in Mechanical engineering at Stony Brook University with the goal of one day designing prosthetics that are more affordable and accessible.
Rafael embodies so much of what a Nagler Scholar promotes. He’s a problem solver, a community builder, a creatively confident and technically expert student, as well as a resilient and growth-oriented.
Questions? Email collegeaccess@urbanarts.org
