Elon Musk plans to open a new university in Austin

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Texas transplant Elon Musk is planning to start a university in Austin, according to in filing taxes for one of his charities first reported by Bloomberg News.

The charity, known as the Foundation, plans to use a $100 million gift from Musk to build and launch an elementary school and a high school in Austin that will focus on teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Once it is fully implemented, the file says, the school will focus on building a university. The school hopes to seek approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, a necessary first step to promote the school. .

According to the file published by Bloomberg, the university will teach students in person “as well as using distance learning technology.” Enrollment is expected to begin with 50 students and expand over time. The school will finance its activities through donations and tuition fees, although the file also states that if the student cannot pay the fees or the fees, the school can provide assistance money. It is currently hiring an executive director, teachers and administrators, the state files.

Musk’s plan to start a new university in Austin — already home to the University of Texas at Austin and several other private universities — comes as another new private school in the city already scheduled to officially open to students in fall 2024.

The University of Austin was launched two years ago by a group of critics of higher education in response to their belief that America’s college campuses are no longer places where students and teachers can live. then share ideas.

In an interview with the Texas Tribune on Wednesday, the President of the University of Austin, Pano Kanelos, said that he hopes that the school can be a champion for free speech and open research.

“We’re living in a time where things seem to be falling apart, where people seem to be pulled apart from each other, where institutions seem to be shaking to their foundations,” he said. Canelos. “The best answer is to create new things.”

Musk’s new university does not yet have a name. The Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Foundation’s trustees include Jared Birchall, the head of the Musk family office; Steven Chidester, a tax attorney at Withersworldwide; and Ronald Gong and Teresa Holland, who work at Catalyst Family Office in California, according to Bloomberg.

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