100% of Urban Arts Seniors Matriculate with $7M in Scholarships

NEW YORK - July 18, 2024 - PRLog -- Urban Arts teaches video game design to underrepresented students as a pathway to college and career. To create a diverse talent pipeline, we provide intensive college access services to ensure our students earn their ideal educations paired with the maximum in scholarships.

This Acceptance Season, our seniors earned $7,892,652 in scholarships—and an incredible $25M since 2017. Most are continuing to study Computer Sciences (CS), from Game Design to Computational Media to Interactive Arts. Others are electing to study Journalism, Music, Graphic Design—even Philosophy. Irene Leung won the Nagler Scholarship this year. "I was asked, 'What will this scholarship enable you to do?' It will enable me—a student from a low-income background—to study Philosophy, a  subject that not many people like me choose, because of the pressure to study a subject that leads to a real job.I will have the privilege to continue learning for the sake of learning," Irene said.

Further, Urban Arts is celebrating five "full ride" offers—to Yale, MIT, two to NYU.

Urban Arts offers classes dedicated to higher-ed access, one-on-one counseling, mentoring, essay-writing workshops, application review, recommendation assistance, offer analysis, financial aid and scholarship counseling.

The process can be intimidating and overwhelming, especially so for first-gen students. "Earning a college degree is not just about getting a job, it's also a place of self-discovery. A lot of our students come from schools that don't have access to advanced coursework or exposure to what's available," says Joelle Blackstock, Director of PostSecondary Education at Urban Arts. "We want each student to define their own future."

Even as the cost of college continues to rise, the long-term financial benefits of a four-year college degree remain indisputable. Adults who have attained at least a bachelor's have better economic outcomes than adults who have not completed college. They tend to earn more and accumulate more wealth.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers in computers and IT are projected to grow 11% from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. Still, women and people of color are grossly underrepresented in the creative tech workforce. "At Urban Arts, we imagine a world where historically-disadvantaged young people gain economic mobility through meaningful careers as creators, thinkers and leaders in the creative and technology fields," says Philip Courtney, CEO.

Our novel approach boosts persistence in CS for those that self-select out earliest, produces creatively confident and technically expert youth, and ensures a more equitable future economy. It's real-time economic mobility.

For more information visit www.urbanarts.org or email jen@urbanarts.org.