There are eight ranked bachelor's programs among the game design schools in New York, two public and six private. SUNY College of Technology at Canton leads at 13 of 89 nationally, a public game programming degree with a $14,451 net price. Rochester Institute of Technology graduates the most students, 158 a year, but its net price is $39,753.
Kevin ToFounder & EditorB.S. in Computer Science, Temple UniversityUpdated
8Game Design Bachelor's Programs Ranked for 2027top score: SUNY College of Technology at CantonOur ranking
29Game-Related Programs in the State15 bachelor's, 10 associate, 4 graduateIPEDS
$28.2kMedian Net Pricebachelor's schools here, aided first-year studentsIPEDS
SUNY College of Technology at Canton leads at 75.7.8 ranked programs in New York, scored on completion, net price and size. It finishes 50% of its students and has a $14,451 net price. SUNY College of Technology at Alfred is next at 68.8.The Ranking ›
Software developers earn $166,180 here.The U.S. median for the same job is $135,980. About 113,510 people work as software developers in New York. Web and digital interface designers, where BLS counts game designers, earn $120,990 in New York, 16% more than the $104,000 national median. Prices in New York run 7.9% above the U.S. average on BEA's index, which takes a bite out of both pay and a student budget.Pay ›
Living costs run above the U.S. average.Prices in New York run 7.9% above the U.S. average on BEA's index, which takes a bite out of both pay and a student budget.Prices ›
Public in-state tuition averages $7,031.The Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) is New York's main state grant. Aided in-state students pay $12,965 on average across 45 public four-year colleges, about what the median state charges. Out of state, tuition averages $17,217.Costs ›
City guides: New York City, Rochester and more.Each ranks the programs nearby with distances, and covers local pay, the software and media employers in the metro, how many graduates compete for jobs, and rent.City Guides ›
New York in brief
Key Facts About Studying Game Design in New York
Of the eight ranked programs, five are game design programs, two game programming and one simulation. SUNY College of Technology at Alfred ranks 26 of 89 at $14,877 net, and Villa Maria College ranks 39 of 89 at $15,687. Alfred graduates three a year and Villa Maria College two, so these are small programs.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ranks 33 of 89 with an 86% completion rate, the highest of the eight, at a net price of $35,940. Long Island University is 34 of 89, Marist University is 65 of 89 and St. John's University-New York is 65 of 89. Beyond games, 30 programs across 22 colleges are game-related, with ten associate programs and four graduate programs, plus ten animation bachelor's schools led by Fashion Institute of Technology at a score of 83.4.
Every score on this page is the same score the national rankings use, built on completion, net price and program size, from federal data. The methodology has the details.
Ranked in New York
The 8 Best Game Design Schools in New York for 2027
SUNY College of Technology at Canton leads, ranked 13 of 89 in the national game design ranking, with a completion rate of 50% and an average net price of $14,451. 2 of the 8 are public. The best game design schools ranking shows how these compare with every school in the country.
Each ranked program in New York, in rank order: what stands out, the trade-off to weigh, and the figures behind the score. Completion, net price and earnings are school-wide; graduates a year is the program's own; the score is out of 100.
New York residents pay $7,070 a year in tuition at SUNY Canton, and the college has the lowest net price in the state on this list: $14,451 for aided first-years school-wide. The campus sits in a town, and the game design and development B.S. teaches students to build video games and virtual reality across platforms.
Career paths named by the program include game programmer, virtual reality engineer, animator, digital content producer and level designer. School-wide, 50% of entering students finish within eight years and the admit rate is 92%. About 22 students graduate from the program annually. Students from outside New York pay $14,097 in tuition. Coursework includes prototyping, testing, production and marketing, and the college sits in a town setting with 3,459 students.
Alfred sits in the New York countryside, a rural public campus in the SUNY system with published tuition of $7,070 for state residents. Students from outside New York pay $15,015, a premium of $7,945 per year. Aided first-years across the college pay a net price of $14,877, against a $27,216 cost of attendance.
The Game and Interactive Design program belongs to the Digital Media and Animation Department, and a professor describes it as hands-on and studio-based, covering design, programming and storytelling. Required courses include 3D game design with virtual reality development and interface design. About 3 students graduate from the program each year. The college admits 76% of applicants, and 56% of entering students finish within eight years. Students can also pursue the two-year associate degree.
Completion
56%school-wide
Net price
$14,877aided first-years
Grads a year
3this program
Earnings
$50,44510 yrs, all majors
Campus setting
Ruralone of the few rural campuses of the 89 ranked
Troy, NY · Private nonprofit · Game design program
63.3
#33 of 89 nationally
Highest completion in New York
Private
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a designated New York State Center of Excellence in Digital Game Development, and its Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences B.S. sits in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. The Troy campus is in a city, and the university has the highest completion in New York on this list: 86% of entering students finish within eight years.
Student projects include IO Interloper, an immersive sim hacking game, and Mystery Medium, a VR mystery. As a private university RPI charges $62,500 in tuition regardless of residency, so New Yorkers get no in-state discount. Net price after aid is $35,940 school-wide, the admit rate is 63%, and about 37 students graduate from the program each year.
Brookville, NY · Private nonprofit · Game programming program
63.3
#34 of 89 nationally
Technical track: game programming
Private
New York residents pay the same $40,248 tuition at Long Island University as out-of-state students, since it is a private school. School-wide, aided first-years pay a net price of $22,620, compared with a $64,778 cost of attendance before aid.
The BFA in Digital Game Design & Development includes courses such as Games Through History and Game Studies, which set making alongside critical study. The Brookville campus is suburban, and the university enrolls 16,689 students. The admit rate is 86%, and about 13 students a year graduate from the game program.
The program's electives range from screenwriting and fiction writing to music technology and life drawing. A required capstone thesis project ends the degree. Ten-year earnings for graduates of all majors are $59,950.
Buffalo, NY · Private nonprofit · Game design program
61.0
#39 of 89 nationally
Private
Residency makes no difference to the bill at Villa Maria. It is a private nonprofit, so New York residents and students from other states pay the same published tuition of $27,530, and across the college the net price for aided first-year students is $15,687 against a $41,590 cost of attendance. The campus is in a city setting in Buffalo and enrolls 611 students.
The BFA in Game Design is hands-on from the first semester, with students building games from storyline through pre-production, modeling and texturing. A student-to-faculty ratio of 8:1 keeps faculty close to the work, and the program chair is an associate professor of game design. Earnings ten years after enrollment average $38,857 across all majors school-wide, and the college admits 87% of applicants. The program graduates about 2 students a year, and 43% of students school-wide finish within eight years.
Queens, NY · Private nonprofit · Game design program
57.3
#51 of 89 nationally
Private
The B.S. in Game Development and Emerging Media is a Queens campus program in the university's college of professional studies. Students collaborate with faculty on interdisciplinary projects, and the page lists roles such as 3D modeler, animator and programmer, plus openings in television and film.
New York residents pay the same $51,919 tuition as everyone at the private university, with a published cost of attendance of $77,492 before aid. Net price is much lower for aided first-years, at $28,206 school-wide. Enrollment across the university is 19,389, the admit rate is 83%, and 70% of entering students complete a degree within eight years. Only about 4 people graduate from the major yearly. Graduates are prepared for roles in games, television and film.
Rochester, NY · Private nonprofit · Simulation program
53.7
#58 of 89 nationally
Largest program in New York
Technical track: simulation
Private
Rochester Institute of Technology is a private nonprofit university in suburban Rochester, so New York residents and out-of-state students pay the same published tuition of $58,260 a year. There is no residency discount to chase here. Aided first-years across the university pay a net price of $39,753, against a sticker cost of attendance of $78,216.
With about 158 graduates a year, this is the largest program in New York in our data. The university enrolls 17,098 students, admits 67% of applicants and sees 71% of entering students finish within eight years. Students who stay in-state can add a bachelor's and master's together through the accelerated combined degree option the program describes. The program also notes STEM-OPT visa eligibility for international students who want to work in the United States after graduation.
Poughkeepsie, NY · Private nonprofit · Game design program
51.4
#65 of 89 nationally
Private
Marist's Games and Emerging Media degree is a New York option with a long track record: the program page cites placement in the Princeton Review's top game design programs for more than a decade. It blends game design, programming, storytelling, UI/UX and the business of games, and students build professional portfolios.
New York residents pay the same $46,920 tuition as other students, and school-wide net price for aided first-years is $40,106. The Poughkeepsie campus is suburban and enrolls 6,356 students. Across the university, 80% of entering students complete a degree within eight years and earnings for graduates of all majors were $77,819 ten years out. About 17 students graduate from this program each year, and the school admits 57% of applicants.
Animation bachelor's programs in New York, scored the same way and listed in score order. Completion and net price are school-wide IPEDS figures; grads a year is the program's 2022-2024 average.
Programs reported to IPEDS, with graduates per year averaged 2022 to 2024. Associate and graduate programs aren't in the bachelor's ranking, so they carry no score here.
New York pays well above the national median for most game-adjacent work. Game programmers count as software developers, a group of 113,510 people with a median of $166,180, which beats the national median by $30,200. Game designers and UI designers fall under web and digital interface designers, whose median is $120,990, or $16,990 above the national median.
Graphic designersWhere many art and UI graduates start
$77,340
$58,610–$100,370$59k–$100k$58,610 to $100,370
14,530
$62,960
Computer programmersProgramming roles outside software development
$103,980
$82,040–$134,990$82k–$135k$82,040 to $134,990
7,020
$100,390
Art directorsSenior art leads; rarely a first job
$137,320
$105,750–$198,330$106k–$198k$105,750 to $198,330
8,720
$114,850
Annual wages, BLS OEWS May 2025. The middle half earns between the 25th and 75th percentile.
Pay in New York's Largest Metro Areas
Metro area
Software developers
Web and digital interface designers
Special effects artists and animators
Price level
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
$166,830
$119,190
$96,760
112.6
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
$127,850
$99,990
Not published
95.8
Rochester, NY
$122,770
$91,540
Not published
97
Median annual wages, BLS OEWS May 2025, for the state's largest metropolitan areas by total employment. Price level is BEA's Regional Price Parity for 2024, where the U.S. average is 100. A cell marked with a dash means BLS (or BEA, for price level) didn't publish a figure for that metro area, usually because too few employers reported.
Art pays well too. Graphic designers earn $77,340, or $14,380 over the national median, and art directors earn $137,320, though art director is rarely a first job. Animation is the one role here that trails the country: the BLS median is $96,770, which is $5,260 below the national median. Programmers outside software earn $103,980, or $3,590 above.
The New York metro is the pay center. Software developers there earn $166,830, computer programmers earn $126,750 and art directors earn $142,990, and it's the only metro here with a published animator figure, $96,760. Buffalo-Cheektowaga is the better value for designers, with web and digital interface designers at $99,990, and Rochester pays them $91,540. Neither publishes an animator wage.
Cost of living is the catch. BEA rates New York at 107.9 on its price scale, about 7.9% over the national average, and the New York metro runs 112.6. Buffalo-Cheektowaga is 95.8 and Rochester is 97, so software developers at $127,850 in Buffalo-Cheektowaga can stretch their pay further. First jobs like QA testing, junior design, art and UI work, and junior programming start below these medians.
About 113,510 people work as software developers in New York. Web and digital interface designers, where BLS counts game designers, earn $120,990 in New York, 16% more than the $104,000 national median. Prices in New York run 7.9% above the U.S. average on BEA's index, which takes a bite out of both pay and a student budget.
The game design salary pages explain what each occupation covers and how game studios fit inside it.
Cost in New York
Paying for School in New York
Of New York's 45 public four-year colleges, the typical resident bill is $7,031 in tuition against $17,217 for outsiders, $10,186 more. Net of aid, in-state students average $12,965. At the state's public game schools, residents pay $7,070 on average and outsiders pay $15,015, a gap of $7,945.
Public colleges in NY
Figure
Public four-year colleges
45
Average in-state tuition
$7,031
Average out-of-state tuition
$17,217
Average net price, aided in-state students
$12,965
Means across New York's public four-year degree-granting colleges that offer undergraduate study: tuition from IPEDS for 2023-24 (41 colleges reporting), net price for 2022-23 (39 reporting). Net price is what first-year students with grant aid paid after grants.
Aided in-state students pay $12,965 on average across 45 public four-year colleges, about what the median state charges.
There's no tuition exchange, so residents get no regional break out of state. At game and animation bachelor schools the median net price is $28,206, far above the public figures.
State Aid in New York
New York's main need program for undergraduates is the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), run by the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation. In its own words: "Eligible students can receive up to $5,665 to help cover tuition expenses." To qualify you must have been a legal New York resident for 12 continuous months before enrolling, or qualify under the NYS DREAM Act, and a dependent student's family can have no more than $125,000 in New York net taxable income. The same agency runs the Excelsior Scholarship, which lets students from families earning $125,000 or less attend a SUNY or CUNY college tuition-free, though its page says the program is now closed. Fill out the FAFSA early, since many state programs award money until it runs out.
Tuition Exchanges
No regional undergraduate tuition exchange covers New York, so public schools in other states charge their full nonresident rate.
Choosing
How to Choose a Game Design Program in New York
The public options are the value picks. SUNY College of Technology at Canton at $14,451 and SUNY College of Technology at Alfred at $14,877 cost far less than Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at $35,940 or Rochester Institute of Technology at $39,753.
Pick by what you want to build. The game programming picks are SUNY College of Technology at Canton or, for a private route, Long Island University, which graduates 13 a year. Rochester Institute of Technology offers a simulation program and has the largest graduating class in the state. Five programs are game design, including Villa Maria College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Marist University, St. John's University-New York, and all five are private.
Staying in state saves money. At the public game schools, tuition is $7,070 for residents and $15,015 for outsiders. If you leave New York, Pennsylvania has seven bachelor's programs, Massachusetts has four and Connecticut has two. New Jersey and Vermont have one each, so the SUNY schools are hard to beat on price.
Neighboring States
Neighboring statePennsylvania5 ranked game bachelor's · 10 programs in allView the Pennsylvania guide ›
Neighboring stateMassachusetts4 ranked game bachelor's · 13 programs in allView the Massachusetts guide ›
Neighboring stateConnecticut2 ranked game bachelor's · 3 programs in allView the Connecticut guide ›
Neighboring stateNew Jersey1 ranked game bachelor's · 14 programs in allView the New Jersey guide ›
Neighboring stateVermont1 ranked game bachelor's · 3 programs in allView the Vermont guide ›
City guides
Cities in New York
4 cities in New York have their own guides, ranking every program inside the metro and within 50 miles of the city center, with distances, metro pay and nearby public college costs.
New York City, NY25 programs within 50 miles · 3 ranked game bachelor'sView the New York City guide ›
Albany, NY4 programs within 50 miles · 1 ranked game bachelor'sView the Albany guide ›
Rochester, NY4 programs within 50 miles · 1 ranked game bachelor'sView the Rochester guide ›
Buffalo, NY3 programs within 50 miles · 1 ranked game bachelor'sView the Buffalo guide ›
SUNY College of Technology at Canton is the top-ranked game design school in New York, 13 of 89 in our national ranking, followed by SUNY College of Technology at Alfred at 26. It finishes 50% of its students and has an average net price of $14,451 for aided first-year students, both school-wide IPEDS figures, and the program graduates about 22 students a year. It is also the lowest-priced of the 8 ranked here. Out-of-state students pay $7,027 more a year in published tuition there. See all 8 ranked New York programs in the state ranking.
What Salary Can Game Designers Expect in New York?
Web and digital interface designers, where BLS counts game designers, earn $120,990 in New York, 16% more than the $104,000 national median. Software developers, the BLS occupation that counts game programmers, earn a median of $166,180 in New York, against $135,980 nationally (BLS May 2025). Prices in New York run 7.9% above the U.S. average on BEA's index, which takes a bite out of both pay and a student budget. About 113,510 people work as software developers in New York. See what game jobs pay in New York.
Which New York School Has the Lowest Net Price?
The lowest-priced ranked option in New York is SUNY College of Technology at Canton, at an average net price of $14,451 a year for aided first-year students. The catch is completion: 50% of its students finish, under the 59% median, and a program you don't finish costs more than its sticker. Public in-state tuition in New York averages $7,031, if a related program at home fits. See paying for school in New York.
Does New York Have a Tuition Exchange?
Not through a regional exchange: New York isn't in one for bachelor's students, so out-of-state public colleges charge their nonresident rate. Each college decides which programs and how many seats take part, so check the specific game program before you count on a discount. For comparison, out-of-state tuition at New York's own public colleges averages $17,217 against $7,031 in state. See paying for school in New York.
How Much More Do Out-of-State Students Pay in New York?
Out-of-state students pay about $10,186 more a year in tuition at New York's public four-year colleges, where in-state tuition averages $7,031 against $17,217 for nonresidents (IPEDS 2023-24). After grants, aided in-state students pay an average net price of $12,965. New York isn't in a regional tuition exchange for bachelor's students, so public colleges elsewhere charge you their out-of-state rate. See paying for school in New York.
2NCES, IPEDS Outcome Measures 2023 The completion factor: the share of all entering students, full-time, part-time and transfer, who earned an award within eight years. School-wide.
