Alpha School’s Luxurious New York City Campus Priced at $65,000 Annually—But It’s Not a Traditional School

During the fall of 2025, senior leaders from Alpha School convened affluent parents from New York City at a series of informational gatherings in Lower Manhattan to introduce the company’s new campus. Some events were led by Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price and its billionaire principal, Joe Liemandt, aiming to showcase how Alpha was “revolutionizing education” through AI-driven learning models. The objective: convince families to abandon the city’s conventional education system and embrace what Alpha initially branded as “the most progressive private school in New York.”

The strategy appears to have succeeded. This academic year, more than a dozen families have entrusted their children to the sixth and seventh floors of the skyscraper at 180 Maiden Lane. The current Alpha New York website states that the “school day” runs from 8:15 am to 4:00 pm, with tuition set at $65,000 per year. (Founding families received a discount.) As Price mentioned in an interview with the Free Press in May, “Alpha is a product as a school catering to a specific demographic,” describing it as “a premium, expensive private school.”

However, the Maiden Lane campus isn’t truly operating as a school. In late summer, months before the information gatherings, the New York State Education Department rejected Alpha’s application to establish itself as an independent school, according to a previously undisclosed copy of the decision obtained by WIRED. “Instruction as proposed is largely online, utilizing an AI-based platform called 2 Hour Learning™ that delivers lessons in core academic subjects with minimal to no supervision or qualified instructor,” noted the department’s legal office. “Typically, [the NYSED] does not recognize online schools as proposed.”

A week later, on X, Alpha invited parents to an information session for the Maiden Lane venue, referred to as the “Alpha Anywhere Center.” Alpha Anywhere is the company’s product line for homeschooling, marketed at around $10,000 per year. Although the marketing materials did not explicitly state it, parents enrolling their children at the Maiden Lane campus would need to submit formal documentation registering as homeschoolers.

ILLUSTRATION: ELENA LACEY/GETTY IMAGES

After WIRED began contacting Alpha staff for this story in April, the company refiled its application for incorporation as a school. This application is currently pending, according to the NYSED. Under state law, even if Alpha is granted permission to operate as a school, it will still need to demonstrate to New York City public school officials that it offers instruction in core subjects that is at least “substantially equivalent” to that of the city’s public schools. This will occur amid a climate where New York City’s top education official has described AI as an “invasive technology,” and where parents and educators are pushing for further restrictions on student use of AI in their studies.

As previously reported by WIRED, Alpha employs “guides” to supervise the classroom environment. These adults do not provide academic instruction directly; rather, they help motivate students to engage with personalized learning software. (“We refer to them as guides, coaches, and teachers,” Price has stated. “We use those terms interchangeably.”) The company pairs this app-based instruction method with a competitive reward system. Students at various campuses can earn substantial rewards for performing well on tests or completing lessons promptly. At the campus in Brownsville, Texas, sources informed WIRED that students who fell short of their learning targets reported being excluded from certain areas and denied other benefits, such as participating in field trips, receiving toys, or enjoying off-campus lunches. The company asserts that its model enables students to learn twice as much in two hours of academics compared to what their peers in conventional schools learn in an entire day, allowing afternoons to be reserved for workshops centered on life skills like resilience, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

WIRED interviewed several individuals associated with setting up, building, and working at new Alpha campuses nationwide. Those familiar with the New York location expressed concerns about the transparency with which the company informed prospective parents that their children would not be attending a traditional school. “Many of these parents are just drinking the Kool-Aid,” said one source. “Their child comes home with a new Nintendo Switch, an AI robot, an iPad, so their child is pleased, and consequently, they are happy too.”

After WIRED reached out to families with children enrolled at Alpha, a group issued a joint statement indicating that they understood the New York City campus is not a school, but rather a “homeschooling support center.” They expressed gratitude for the positive impact the Alpha Anywhere Center has had on their children, wholeheartedly recommending it to families looking for an innovative, nurturing, and inspiring educational community for their homeschooling journey. This joint statement included 13 named signatories and 22 who wished to express support while keeping their child’s educational experience private. Other families contacted by WIRED for comment did not respond.