Andreessen Horowitz launches tuition-free school for 50 high-school graduates

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is launching The Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a school for aspiring founders who have graduated high school but have not attended college.

TechCrunch reports that the one-year program will charge no tuition and accept about 50 students. Applicants will be chosen based on proof of work, including what they have built, shipped, or earned, according to the academy’s FAQ. Students will take hands-on courses such as “AI Research and Models” and “The Geometry of Luck,” work on personal projects, and receive access to technology mentors.

The academy is in San Francisco. Students must arrange their own housing, although the school says it will help them find housing and roommates. The academy is not accredited, so participants will not receive a degree or transferable college credits.

In 2028, the for-profit academy hopes to introduce a two-year program. It has raised $42 million and plans to charge tuition similar in cost to an elite private university, CEO Gagan Biyani said in a post on X.

The planned program would provide access to 200 speakers and mentors, including people from ten founding corporate partners: Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe. Biyani said the companies hope to hire graduates. The academy presents itself as a middle ground between earning a full degree and leaving college to build a company.