Fall 2026 . School Year . Online
Early College Credit Courses
A different approach to college credit
College-level learning, designed for motivated minds.
Earn real, transcripted college credit and master modern technical skills through flexible online courses built for motivated high schoolers.
Why this matters
Designing education around the individual.
Many early college and dual enrollment programs take a one-size-fits-all approach—expecting students to keep pace with a single teaching style and a single path. We do things differently. Because when students learn differently, teaching should too.
Our courses empower students to collaborate with the powerful tools shaping today's creative and technical fields, including AI. Students develop the critical judgment skills to direct these tools, critique their outputs, and inject their own unique ideas and perspective into everything they build.
The DigiPen Academy difference
A transcript shows you completed a course.
Your work shows what you actually learned.
DigiPen Academy’s Early College Credit Courses are built around active problem-solving, feedback, revision, and reflection . You won’t simply check off boxes or memorize facts to pass a test. You will build real projects, work through complex challenges, explain your decisions, and develop the critical ability to recognize what works, what doesn't, and why.
Make no mistake: this isn't a simplified track or an enrichment program. You will complete authentic, college-level coursework and meet the exact same academic standards as on-campus DigiPen college students.
The difference isn't the credit you earn—it's how we help you build the capability to get there.
Instruction that adapts
The academic standard stays high, but the path to get there adapts to you. You will receive the exact depth, support, and challenge appropriate to your strengths, interests, and pace.
Work you can show
You will build substantial, portfolio-ready projects that prove what you can actually do, rather than leaving with only a grade on a transcript.
Credit that counts
Successfully complete your course to earn DigiPen Institute of Technology(opens in new tab) transcript credit, giving you a head start on college.
Learning in an AI World
The tools are powerful. The vision still comes from you.
AI is quickly changing how creative and technical work gets done. We don't ask you to ignore that reality. Instead, we teach you how to work with these powerful tools in your creative and problem-solving process.
But knowing how to prompt a tool isn’t enough. You need to know what you want to create, how to guide the technology, how to question what it produces, and how to recognize when the result falls short.
You will learn to direct, evaluate, and refine the output—developing the critical judgment and personal vision that turn a powerful tool into a true extension of your own creativity.
Built for Flexibility
College-level learning, built around your life.
Challenge yourself with rigorous college coursework while keeping the flexibility to build learning around your unique interests, strengths, goals, and schedule.
Our online, school-year format is designed to adapt to your life—whether you are looking for a greater academic challenge than your high school provides, navigating a busy schedule, or homeschooling and seeking advanced college-level opportunities.
You will have the opportunity to earn transcripted college credit in Applied Math, Applied English, Applied Game Programming, Applied Game Art, or Applied Game Design—all while building a meaningful portfolio of work that proves what you can do.
is this a good fit?
Built for students who don’t want to wait.
DigiPen Academy’s Early College Credit Courses are designed for motivated high school students who want to challenge themselves, earn real college credit, and begin building skills for the future.
These courses are especially well suited for students who:
The Courses
Five courses. One approach to learning.
Every course applies the same underlying approach to a different discipline. You will learn through meaningful, hands-on work—developing your skills through practice, feedback, iteration, and reflection.
And as AI tools become increasingly capable, you will learn to work with them as active partners. You will develop the deep subject knowledge, critical judgment, and creative perspective needed to direct those tools and evaluate what they produce, rather than letting them make the decisions for you.
Each course is a complete 15-week experience, ending with a substantial, portfolio-ready body of work that you can actually demonstrate.
Build a working system using vectors, geometry, statistics, and physics. You'll use mathematics to understand how your creation behaves, not just calculate an answer.
Learn when a tool can help, when it can't, and how to know the difference.
Develop ideas worth communicating.
Write, revise, and strengthen your ideas through persuasive, narrative, reflective, and technical projects. Learn to turn your thinking into communication that makes an impact.
AI can generate language. You’ll learn how to make sure the ideas and the voice are genuinely yours.
Build systems, not just scripts.
Go inside a working game system to build, extend, debug, and understand how everything fits together. Develop the programming and software engineering skills to make informed technical decisions.
AI can generate code. You’ll learn to understand it, evaluate it, and decide what belongs in your system.
Create art that works as part of a system.
Build your own growing asset kit while developing visual design, production, animation, and self review skills. Learn to create with intention, not simply make something that looks good.
Use modern creative tools while developing the judgment to direct, evaluate, and refine what they produce.
Design for the experience you want to create.
Explore mechanics, story, pacing, systems, and playtesting by starting with one question: What should the player feel? Then build, test, and refine until your design delivers that experience.
AI can generate endless ideas. You’ll learn which ones actually serve your game's vision.
Ready to get started?
Application window opens soon. Spots are limited.
Fall 2026 Early College Credit Courses – online, school year, ages 16+
For Studio-track Students
Learn what it takes to create something together.
If you take Applied Game Programming, Applied Game Art, or Applied Game Design, you will work together in our Production Lab, combining your individual disciplines to design, build, and ship a finished project.
Programmers, artists, and designers will learn to communicate across disciplines, make collaborative decisions under pressure, work within real technical constraints, and deliver what you promised. The goal isn't to build the biggest project; it's to build something completely finished and know why and how it works.
Getting started
Three steps to your first college credit.
Taking on college-level work is a big step, but we’ve made the path to getting started simple.
Choose your path
Explore the five Applied courses above and find the discipline that sparks your curiosity. If you are looking to collaborate in our hands-on Production Lab, consider taking a studio-track course in programming, art, or design.
Apply online
Submit your application through our online student portal. We’re looking for motivated high schoolers who are ready to push their limits and build something real. Our admissions team will review your application and guide you through the next steps.
Start building your future
Attend class online, dive into hands-on coursework, and start working with industry-standard tools. You will finish your course with official, transferable DigiPen Institute of Technology transcript credit—and a portfolio to prove what you can do.
Have questions? Contact our team at (425) 629-5007 or academy@digipen.edu to find the right fit for your goals.
Why DigiPen Academy
Built on 30+ years of college-level education. Designed for high school students ready for more.
DigiPen Academy is the pre-college division of DigiPen Institute of Technology, bringing the institution’s academic expertise to motivated high school students. DigiPen Institute of Technology has been ranked a Top Video Game Design School by The Princeton Review for the past 17 years. DigiPen Academy courses are developed in consultation with DigiPen faculty and built on the same academic foundations, standards, and pathways that support DigiPen’s degree programs.