Reading has lower prices than the national average, which changes how you should read the list of game design schools in Reading. Two ranked programs sit inside the metro, one private and one public, and the two highest-scoring programs within 50 miles are across the Delaware line. If you want a low-cost path with a real bachelor's at the end, the choice is between staying close and driving or moving for a lower net price.
Kevin ToFounder & EditorB.S. in Computer Science, Temple UniversityUpdated
2Game Programs Within 25 Milesgame design, programming, simulation and animation, all levelsIPEDS locations
10Game Programs Within 50 Milesat 8 collegesIPEDS locations
5Ranked Game Design Bachelor's Programs Nearbyranked, within 50 miles; plus 2 animationOur ranking
Albright College leads the metro at 61.5.2 ranked programs sit inside the Reading metro. Price is its strength: aided first-year students pay $22,116, $4,034 under the ranking's median, though 53% completion trails the 59% median.The Ranking ›
Software developers earn $120,920 here.The U.S. median for the same job is $135,980. Software development is a smaller share of jobs in the metro than nationally (location quotient 0.34), with about 640 people in the occupation.Pay ›
In-state tuition starts at $7,500.4 public colleges nearby offer a game-related program. The highest in-state tuition nearby is $14,600, so where you enroll changes the bill a lot.Costs ›
A one-bedroom rents for $898 a month.The U.S. median one-bedroom is $1,301. Rent helps here, at a $1,195 monthly median in the Reading metro, $292 under the national figure. The lowest on-campus room and board nearby is $12,535 a year at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.Living Costs ›
Ranked in Reading
The Best Game Design Schools in Reading, PA for 2027
Albright College is the city campus, 2 miles from the center, with a game and interactive media design program at 37 of 89 and a score of 61.5. It publishes $27,836 in tuition and a school-wide net price of $22,116, with only 8 graduates a year. Completion across the college is 53%.
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is the public option, 14 miles out, with a computer game programming program placed at 48 of 89. In-state tuition is $7,716, a fraction of the Albright figure, but the program graduates only 3 students a year and the school-wide net price is $21,856. One is a design program and one is a code program.
Game design, game programming, simulation and animation programs are all scored the same way, on completion, net price and program size. On each card, completion is the school's 8-year award rate and net price its average for aided first-year students, both from IPEDS; grads a year is the program's own average, 2022 to 2024. Miles are straight-line from central Reading.
Reading, PA · Private nonprofit · Game design program · 2 miles
61.5
#37 of 89 nationally
2 miles from Reading
Private
Two miles from Reading, Albright College is where students in Game & Simulation Development learn the history of gaming from the first video games forward, then move into asset creation, experience design and simulation design. Students collaborate with Art and Digital Studio Art students and show their work at a Senior Exhibition.
The Career Development Center helps students find internships at game studios, tech companies, educational software developers or media labs. Albright has 1,380 students, and 53% of entering students complete a degree within eight years. Earnings for graduates of all majors were $58,700 ten years out, and the admit rate is 76%. About 8 students complete the major each year. Students also take Sound Design for Visual Media. The college is private.
Kutztown, PA · Public · Game programming program · 14 miles
59.0
#48 of 89 nationally
14 miles from Reading
Technical track: game programming
Public
Only 14 miles separate Reading from Kutztown, which makes a commute realistic for many students from the metro, though dorms close to class are part of the pitch as well. The campus is a town setting with clubs, Greek life and an esports gaming arena, a different feel from a city university.
The bachelor's in game development has 120 required credits and is offered in person only. A flexible curriculum lets students emphasize art, creative writing or software development, and the program highlights projects done for real clients. School-wide, aided first-year students pay a net price of $21,856 and Pennsylvania residents see published tuition of $7,716. Three students graduate from the program in an average year, and 57% of the university's entering class completes within eight years.
The rest of the Reading, PA metro and the nearby areas are covered on the Pennsylvania page.
StatePennsylvania5 ranked game bachelor's · 10 programs in allView the Pennsylvania guide ›
Pay in Reading
What Game Jobs Pay in Reading
The software developer median here is $120,920, which is $15,060 under the national median and $5,630 under the Pennsylvania median. Graphic designers, where many art graduates begin, earn $54,340, and BLS didn't publish metro figures for interface designers, animators or art directors.
$57,620–$88,650$58k–$89k$57,620 to $88,650, May 2024May 2024
40May 2024
$104,160May 2025
$104,000
Graphic designersWhere many art and UI graduates start
$54,340
$44,840–$65,640$45k–$66k$44,840 to $65,640
230
$60,730
$62,960
Computer programmersProgramming roles outside software development
$98,690
$74,660–$108,510$75k–$109k$74,660 to $108,510
60
$89,180
$100,390
BLS doesn't publish pay for these occupations in the Reading metro:
Special effects artists and animators: $102,030 national median. See animator salary ›
Art directors: $114,850 national median.
Annual wages, BLS OEWS May 2025, for the Reading, PA metropolitan area. The middle half earns between the 25th and 75th percentile. Figures tagged May 2024 are from that earlier BLS release, because BLS didn't publish one for the Reading metro in the current release.
The one place the metro beats the state is programming. Computer programmers earn $98,690 locally, $9,510 above the Pennsylvania median, though that's still $1,700 under the national figure. With only 60 of these jobs counted in the metro, treat the number as a hint rather than a market.
Living costs soften the gap. The overall price level is 97.1 and housing is 85.4, both below the national average of 100, so a modest salary stretches further than it would at the national price level.
Software development is a smaller share of jobs in the Reading metro than nationally (location quotient 0.34), with about 640 people in the occupation. BEA's index puts prices in the Reading metro near the U.S. average, at 97.1.
The Census counted only 8 software publishers in the Reading metro in 2023, too few for a separate look at local employers, so most game work here means remote roles or a move.
About 65 graduates a year come out of game-related programs within 50 miles, 55 of them with bachelor's degrees. Only 10 a year come from colleges inside the Reading metro, against 640 core jobs there, which makes metro graduates 1.6% of those jobs. The biggest names are farther out: Drexel University leads the 50-mile total with 16 graduates a year, ahead of Wilmington University with 12 and Pennsylvania College of Art and Design with 9.
The 10 largest game-related programs within 50 miles of central Reading by graduates a year, IPEDS completions averaged 2022 to 2024:
Don't read that percentage as a crowded field. It's small because the metro has few core jobs and few local graduates, and most of the 65 come from colleges 29 to 49 miles away in other metros. Most core jobs also aren't in games, and graduates move. The number says more about how small Reading's tech sector is than about competition for openings.
Cost near Reading
Paying for School in Reading
Four public colleges are within 50 miles, and two sit across state lines. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania lists $7,716 for residents and $12,590 for others, a $4,874 gap, and Lehigh Carbon Community College lists $7,500 and $11,250. Delaware is the expensive case: $14,600 for Delaware residents against $39,190 for everyone else, a difference of $24,590 that Pennsylvanians would pay in full.
The public colleges within 50 miles that offer a game-related program. Tuition is the published undergraduate rate for 2023-24 (IPEDS IC), before aid; net price is the school-wide average for aided first-year students, 2022-23 (IPEDS SFA).
Pennsylvania State Grant, from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, is the state aid to check as a resident, and it's the grant most likely to apply at the in-state schools above. There's no undergraduate regional tuition exchange covering the nearby out-of-state options, so the Delaware and Maryland sticker prices are what you'd pay.
State Aid in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's main need program for undergraduates is the Pennsylvania State Grant, run by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. In its own words: "The Pennsylvania State Grant is the largest grant program in the state." The Pennsylvania page covers state aid and public college costs in more detail.
Tuition Exchanges
SREB’s FAQ says residents of its affiliates, Pennsylvania among them, "are not eligible to participate in" the Academic Common Market.
Living costs
Living in Reading as a Student
Reading is cheap. At $1,195, median rent comes in a welcome $292 below the U.S. median. For a one-bedroom, figure on $898 monthly, a total of $10,776 over twelve months. Split a two-bedroom at $1,310 and you'd pay about $655 each. The housing price level is 85.4 against a national 100, so rent really is where you save.
Monthly rent
Reading metro
U.S.
All rentals, median
$1,195
$1,487
One bedroom, median
$898
$1,301
Two bedrooms, median
$1,310
$1,490
Median gross rent (rent plus utilities the tenant pays), American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, tables B25064 and B25031.
Campus costs run higher than rent. Five colleges report room and board. Pennsylvania College of Art and Design charges $12,535, the lowest, and Drexel University charges $17,550, the highest. Albright College lists $13,954 and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania $13,116. Lehigh Carbon Community College doesn't offer campus housing, and Cecil College doesn't either, which matters if you'd be commuting from Reading.
Rent helps here, at a $1,195 monthly median in the Reading metro, $292 under the national figure.
Each college's own yearly estimates for a full-time undergraduate, 2023-24 (IPEDS IC). Off-campus is for a student not living with family.
Your split is three design programs against two that lean technical. Albright, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, plus the University of Delaware, are game design programs, while Kutztown and Wilmington are game programming programs. Wilmington also has an animation program, so it's the one place nearby to compare both sides of the field.
The school-wide net price of $14,267 at Wilmington University undercuts almost everything else nearby, including the $21,856 at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Delaware is $17,716. Completion rates run lower at Wilmington, 48%, than at Delaware, 82%, and both figures cover the entire school.
Albright and Kutztown can be done from home, at 2 and 14 miles in a straight line. Lancaster is 29 miles out, and the Delaware schools at 47 and 49 miles mean moving or renting nearby.
None of the 2 colleges on this page is open admission, and fall 2024 admission ran from 76% at Albright College to 91% at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. None requires SAT or ACT scores.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Game Design Schools Near Reading Are Ranked Highest?
Albright College is the top-ranked game design school in Reading, scoring 61.5 and ranked 37 of 89 nationally. Price is its strength: aided first-year students pay $22,116, $4,034 under the ranking's median, though 53% completion trails the 59% median. About 8 students a year graduate from it, a mid-sized program by the ranking's standards. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is next at 59.0, one of 2 ranked programs in the metro. The cheapest ranked option in the metro is Kutztown University of Pennsylvania at $21,856. See the ranked programs.
What Do Game Developers Earn in Reading?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that counts game programmers, earn a median of $120,920 in the Reading metro, against $135,980 nationally (BLS May 2025). Software development is a smaller share of jobs in the Reading metro than nationally (location quotient 0.34), with about 640 people in the occupation. BEA's index puts prices in the Reading metro near the U.S. average, at 97.1. See what game jobs pay in Reading.
How Much Is In-State Tuition at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania?
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania has an average net price of $21,856 a year for aided first-year students (IPEDS), the price after grants rather than the published one. Published tuition is $7,716 for in-state students and $12,590 out of state. It is 14 miles from central Reading, ranked 48 of 89 nationally, with a school-wide completion rate of 57%. It is small, about 3 graduates a year, which can mean closer faculty contact but fewer electives each term. See the ranked programs.
Can I Commute to a Game Design School From Reading?
2 ranked programs sit inside the Reading metro. Albright College scores highest, at 61.5. The top program is 2 miles from central Reading, close enough to commute if housing nearby is out of reach. 2 game-related programs sit within 25 miles of central Reading and 10 within 50, counting every level. The rest of the metro and the nearby areas are on the Pennsylvania page. See the ranked programs.
Is Reading, PA Affordable for Game Design Students?
In-state tuition at public colleges near Reading starts at $7,500 a year, at Lehigh Carbon Community College, and runs up to $7,716 at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Nonresidents pay $11,250 at Lehigh Carbon Community College. 4 public colleges within 50 miles offer a game-related program, and private colleges charge every student the same tuition. After grants, Lehigh Carbon Community College has the lowest average net price nearby, $8,956, under the $13,240 public average in the median state. See paying for school in Reading.
How Hard Is It to Get Into Game Design Colleges Near Reading?
None of the 2 colleges on this page is open admission, and fall 2024 admission ran from 76% at Albright College to 91% at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. None requires SAT or ACT scores. With no open-admission college nearby, apply to more than one program. Each program card shows its college's admission rate where one is reported. See how to choose a program.
Keep exploring
Related Pages
CityPhiladelphia, PA48 mi from Reading · 10 programs within 50 miles · 5 ranked game bachelor'sView the Philadelphia guide ›
CityYork, PA50 mi from Reading · 7 programs within 50 miles · 3 ranked game bachelor'sView the York guide ›
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.
