READY TO JOIN?
Come grow with us at our Agile Learning Center!
We’re so excited you’re here. If you've read this far, you can see that what we're doing and building here at The Children's Community ALC for young people ages ~5-18+ is intentionally unconventional. If TCC aligns with what you're seeking for the young person in your life and you’d like to build with us - let’s connect and take the next steps together!
Applying AT A Glance
We are accepting applications at our ALC for 2025-2026, based on space availability and age range. Intentionally maintaining a varied mixed-age group of young people here is a priority for us, and we are especially eager to connect with teens. Throughout the application process, we’ll share about our values, what we do and why, and answer all of your questions. We’ll determine together if joining TCC would be a mutually beneficial fit for your family and our community.
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Because each young person's experience is self-directed and emergent, we offer ongoing enrollment options - it's common for families to find their way here any month of the year. Tuition is paid monthly and therefore prorated for the portion of the school year enrolled.
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We want every family considering joining TCC to feel fully informed and resourced about not only what Self-Directed Education in our Agile Learning Center is (and isn’t), but about what our unique culture and values are.
We take a great deal of time to offer resources about SDE, to answer questions, meet with you, and offer site visits, including a two-week visiting period for prospective learners. We are also glad to connect you with a current parent to answer questions and share about their experience with TCC.
Choosing to do something different for your child and family requires support and community. Offering those resources to families is a priority for us!
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Tuition is offered in an accessible, trust-based sliding scale, making TCC an affordable Self-Directed Education option in the greater St. Louis area.
Our program is currently entirely tuition-funded. We aim to strike a balance among meeting operating costs, paying facilitators a thriving wage, and not turning any households away for lack of funds. If you're in alignment with and open to what we do at TCC, and believe the young person in your life would thrive here, we want to talk to you!
In order to remain financially stable, we have limited spots available at each tuition tier. As we grow and pursue alternative funding sources, we will increase our financial flexibility and capacity to accommodate more households at each tier.
Rather than ask families to provide tax receipts or other information about their financial landscape, we trust them to consider what the value of an experience of TCC is, and to reflect on their access to resources and privilege in choosing a tuition tier with thoughtful intention.
Read more about our tuition model and get specifics below.
ALC TUITION SPECIFICS
We offer tuition within a framework of trust and at a sliding scale: we invite families to reflect on their access to financial wealth and privilege and to self-select a tier that is both generous and sustainable for them.
These tiers represent movement towards an equitable sliding scale tuition model, and we revise it annually, based on emergent circumstances, feedback, and reflection. Our goals in offering an equitable sliding scale model are: to prioritize diversity (economic, racial, gender, cultural, etc.); increase access to Self-Directed education for more young people; meet operating costs; pay employees at thriving wage; sustainably grow The Children's Community; and disrupt standard capitalistic, extractive financial models.
While we are a tuition-based program, we prioritize accessibility. We want families who are aligned and enthusiastic about TCC to be able to join us in creating culture and practicing futures, and will not turn folks away for lack of funds.
2026-2027 TUITION
Tier 1 $17,657 annually ($1,962/month)
Tier 2 $15,867 annually ($1,763/month)
Tier 3 $14,075 annually ($1,564/month)
Tier 4 $12,283 annually ($1,365/month)
Tier 5 $10,492 annually ($1,166/month)
Tier 6 $8,701 annually ($967/month)
Tier 7 $6,909 annually ($768/month)
Tier 8 $5,118 annually ($569/month)
On choosing a tuition tier…
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Rather than suggesting a “standard” tuition price, we invite you reflect on the resources available to you by considering whether you:
have financial security, steady earning power, and employment flexibility;
have quality health insurance, reliable transportation, the ability to pay a home mortgage;
have the ability to miss work without penalty, access to reliable childcare, and family support;
enjoy recreational travel, spending on wants vs. necessities, or access to generational wealth;
are eligible for public assistance,
carry significant debt (including student debt),
have a large number of dependents,
have formerly or currently incarcerated family members,
have limited financial or familial support,
are a member of a historically marginalized group.
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We continue to learn from & use the ideas in Britt Hawthorne's piece on equitable sliding scales as well as Alexis J. Cunningfolk's various writings on the topic.
Their work has informed the evolution of our tuition scale and invitations to reflect. We pay them for sharing their knowledge!
Finally, what is the experience of being part of this community worth to your child and your family?
What is the value of this experience to you?
Application Specifics
We want you to have your questions answered, to get to know the culture and values we hold, and to be supported through every step of the application process.
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Research: Learn more about Self-Directed Education to understand the underlying philosophy of what we do.
Explore the ALC educational model and our comprehensive FAQ page. Visit our resources page to find links to articles, websites, videos, podcasts & books that have inspired our own learning, culture, and values. Read the reviews of our weekly work together at the blog tab of our site to get a sense of the day-to-day experiences we share.
Please review our 2024-2025 handbook specifically for TCC families that includes information about our specific culture and values as well as some logistical details. We invite you to peruse this document as well as our social media for insight as to the values we hold, culture we build, and how we spend our days.
If you've explored our website and these various resources and feel a resonant, "YES - I can't wait to learn more! Let's GO!" please move on to the additional steps below. We're excited to connect with you!
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Apply. To initiate our application process, please formally apply by sending along a $50 application fee and e-mail us at [email protected] to request application forms. We'll also introduce you to a short webinar all about Agile Learning Centers - it speaks to some commonly asked questions and provides insight into the unique culture and paradigm shift that joining an agile community offers.
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Once you’ve submitted applications and tuition offers, we’ll invite you to visit, ideally during a day we are in session. We want you to see what TCC looks like in action, to meet current young people, and get your questions answered!
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If we are all feeling aligned and enthusiastic after the above steps, we’ll invite your child for two weeks of visiting. These two weeks allow the family to experience what it is like to be here and lets us make sure our community can effectively support and integrate the new family. This longer visiting experience allows young people to participate in the variety of experiences at TCC and for all of us to have ample time to build relationship. Cost for this visiting period is offered at an accessible sliding scale.
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At the conclusion of the visiting weeks, we’ll seek feedback from your family as well as other ALC kids and facilitators. We’ll sit down with all active caregivers in your family to do a final check-in on alignment, answer remaining questions, and discuss what supports may be meaningful in integrating your family into our community.
After a month at TCC, we'll set aside time to talk about your child’s experience so far, ask additional questions, and hear any other important information and points of reflection.