Andrew Michael Allen was born on 4 August 1955 in Richboro, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in 1973, following an education at Richboro Junior High (currently Richboro Middle School). In 2003, he was interviewed for the school's newspaper "The Viking Voice" about Allen's history with NASA and the future of the agency in regard to the then-recent Space Shuttle "Columbia" disaster. He subsequently studied at Villanova University where he received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1977. At Villanova, he was initiated into the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. In 2004, Allen also received a MBA degree from the University of Florida.