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No tuition, no grades, no power grid: why are people flocking to a ‘college’ in the middle of the desert?

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · · 2096 words · By Amanda Ulrich
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What to know about No tuition, no grades, no power grid: why are people flocking to a ‘college’ in the middle of the desert?

A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work.

Claims checked 19
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage
Left20%
Center80%
Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work.

Why it matters

Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut.

Common ground

“I told myself I was gonna share today,” Birch said nervously, looking around the circle.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/29/mars-college-california-campus

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 19 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 9
help Insufficient Evidence 8
verified Verified By Reference 2
help
Claim 1: “A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the claim about writing students gathering with laptops.
schedule
Claim 2: “All classes are held within a cluster of plywood-and-metal structures, which are built before the semester and torn down in April.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 3: “Outside, open desert stretched as far as the eye could see, punctuated on one side only by the steadily shrinking, pesticide-laden Salton Sea.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the Salton Sea description.
schedule
Claim 4: “The seed for Mars College was planted at Burning Man, a Nevada desert festival with tens of thousands of attendees.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 5: “During the pandemic, Columbia University charged $80,000 annually for tuition and housing.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 6: “There are no grades, degrees or mandatory attendance. There are no tuition fees or trained professors or even public utilities, like electricity or indoor plumbing.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the absence of academic structures and utilities.
schedule
Claim 7: “He bought a 20-acre plot for $20,000 near Bombay Beach.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 8: “Freeman built structures at Burning Man using pallet racks and metal scaffolding.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 9: “The price of college tuition has risen, and long-term unemployment among college-educated people has increased.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 10: “It was a scene reminiscent of any creative writing brainstorm happening on any given college campus across the country.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the comparison to typical college workshops.
schedule
Claim 11: “Kogan has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Columbia University and a Fulbright scholarship to study art technology in India.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 12: “Students live in trailers, sheds, tents, and pay a few hundred dollars for communal services.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 13: “Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the claim about Ira Birch's appearance.
help
Claim 14: “It’s unclear who gave it that nickname, but, you know, it kind of looks like Mars out here.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the 'Mars College' nickname claim.
verified
Claim 15: “The gathering’s true setting was a barren, windswept plot in the middle of the California desert, roughly 200 miles from Los Angeles, 40 miles from the nearest grocery store and a mile from the tiny settlement of Bombay Beach.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia evidence about Los Angeles County does not confirm the specific desert location or 200-mile distance claim.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Immaculate Heart Middle & High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory day school for girls grades 6-12. The school is located in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, Unit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Heart_High_School_(…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Los Angeles (often referred to by its initials, LA) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estima…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Los Angeles County, sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,757,179 residents estimated in 2024. Its population is greater than that of 40 individu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County,_California
schedule
Claim 16: “Current students include a former English major interested in off-grid living, a 45-year-old microbiologist with a Berkeley PhD, and a woman from Slab City running a dog rescue.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 17: “The writers sat in a small room constructed from plywood boards and metal frames: a temporary structure built a few months prior, and now positioned right on top of the sand.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the temporary structure description.
verified
Claim 18: “The leader of the workshop, Amy Brown Carver, stepped in to help, reading a few of Birch’s poems aloud for them.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia evidence cited is unrelated to the claim about Amy Brown Carver reading poems. No corroborating sources found.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of American films released in 1988.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1988
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of American films released in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1994
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of characters who have been played by multiple actors in the same film. This does not include: Stunt doubles/body doubles Infants or very young children Actors playing a younger/older…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_played_by_m…
help
Claim 19: “Most power to the camp comes from a towering wall of solar panels.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to support the solar panel power source claim.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.