Heights Christian Schools - Brea Campus

Overview

Heights Christian Schools - Brea Campus is a Christian K-8 private school in Brea, California, serving grades K-4, founded in 1981, with about 118 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $11,069, which puts it in the middle range among Orange County private schools at this level. Religion classes are required, so confirm your family is comfortable with that before applying. The school accepts F-1 international students and issues the I-20 needed for a student visa.

Admissions

No standardized entrance exam; admission uses an on-campus assessment or visit day.

The school publishes the following application details. The first step is to create a New Family Profile in the Finalsite system, selecting the program of interest; the school reviews it and then sends the online enrollment process for the next step. The new student registration fee already includes student testing, so the admission process includes an on-campus assessment. The school uses Continuous Enrollment: enrolled families are automatically re-enrolled each school year unless they opt out. New and current students are queued first come, first served, and even first place on the waitlist does not guarantee the next opening. The school website FAQ notes that the first day of school for K-8 is always the Tuesday before Labor Day. The school website does not publish a specific application deadline for 2027-28.

The main entry points at a K-8 school are kindergarten and grade 6. Younger applicants are usually evaluated through an on-campus visit, while most applicants above grade 5 need an ISEE score. Start in the fall of the year before entry: visit first to confirm the school is a fit, then decide whether to register for testing.

Tuition and fees

One point first: the 2026-2027 tuition schedule posted on the school website Tuition & Affordability page is itself a discounted schedule for new families. It is titled “A SPECIAL OFFER for NEW TK-8th Grade Families,” with a note in the upper right reading RATES REFLECT 25% OFF FIRST YEAR ONLY and text below the table reading Rates reflect a 25% discount and No other discounts apply. The prices shown are $11,069 per year for the first year in TK through grade 4 ($1,106.90 per month) and $11,999 per year for the first year in grades 5-8 ($1,199.90 per month). The Brea campus goes only through grade 4, so the applicable rate is $11,069. Standard pricing from the second year on is not published on the school website. The school does not have separate church-member and non-member rates. International students (F-1) follow a separate tuition schedule: $18,999 per year for TK through grade 4. (school website, the 2026-2027 TK-8 Fee Schedule and International Student Tuition 2026-2027 linked from the Tuition & Affordability page)

New student registration fees: $300 for TK, $500 for K-4, and $550 for grades 5-8. These are nonrefundable and cover the application, entrance testing, registration processing, textbooks and consumables, accident insurance, standardized testing, and the yearbook. K-8 students pay a $300 annual technology fee in two installments of $150, due September 1 and January 1. Before- and after-school care is billed separately; the 2026-2027 international student fee schedule lists morning care (6:30-8:00 for TK-4) at $1,019 per year and afternoon care from 15:00 to 16:30 at $1,299 per year. Care is available until 18:00, with overtime charged at $1 per minute per student, and the second and each additional child in a family receives 50% off care fees. Past-due accounts incur a $25 late fee, and returned checks cost $30. Families who withdraw early owe tuition through the actual last day of attendance plus 10% of the annual tuition. Beyond tuition, international students pay a $750 application fee, which covers I-20 issuance and one entrance test, and a $500 registration fee each year.

Financial aid: Need is assessed through the third-party service TADS (Tuition Aid Data Services). Families must reapply each school year and submit by the deadline, and the school covers part of the cost based on the assessment. The school website says that over the past five years it has awarded more than $3,000,000 in tuition assistance to 1,494 students, but does not publish the share of families receiving aid or the range of individual awards. (school website, Tuition & Affordability page)

Academics and programs

• One campus with a continuous path from infant care starting at 6 weeks old and preschool for ages 2-6 through TK and the elementary grades to grade 4 (school website, Brea Campus page)
• The K-6 elementary curriculum covers Bible, English language arts, math, science, history and social studies, physical education, music, art, and technology (school website, Our Programs ▸ Elementary page)
• Success Program: a program for students who need learning support (school website, Brea Campus page, Our Programs ▸ Success)
• International Program: two tracks, I-20 international students and International Visitors who stay up to two months without earning credit; the Brea campus accepts both (school website, Our Programs ▸ International page)
• Heights Homeschool Academy (Brea campus, TK-6): a homeschool support program with the option of attending 1, 2, or 3 days per week, on its own tuition schedule (school website, Tuition & Affordability page, Our Programs ▸ Heights Homeschool Academy)
• Day care runs from 6:30 to 18:00 and covers holidays such as teacher in-service days, parent conference days, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Veterans Day (school website, Brea Campus page, 2026-2027 TK-8 Fee Schedule)

How this school compares

These are the nearest schools at the same level and a comparable price. Select a name to open that school’s admissions guide:

School	City	Grades	Tuition	Entrance test	Class size	Distance
Heights Christian Schools - Brea Campus	Brea	K-4	$11,069	On-campus assessment	—	—
Christ Lutheran School	Brea	K-8	$6,750	—	24	1.9 mi
St. Joseph Catholic School	Placentia	K-8	$8,495	On-campus assessment	20	2.7 mi
St. Angela Merici Parish School	Brea	K-8	Not published	—	—	1.7 mi
Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda Christian Academy	Yorba Linda	K-8	$10,400	—	12	4.5 mi

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $11,069, 5 years covering grades K-4 come to roughly $55,345 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $60,000. Neither number includes registration fees, deposits, uniforms or activity fees. A California 529 plan can cover up to $10,000 per child per year of K-12 tuition.

Getting there from Irvine

These are straight-line distances from neighborhoods where many Irvine families live. Actual drive times will be longer, and a morning rush-hour trip typically takes 1.5 to 2 times as long as an off-peak one:

Neighborhood	Straight-line distance
Woodbury	16.9 miles
Northwood	14.6 miles
Turtle Rock	19.8 miles
Portola Springs	17.4 miles

The website does not describe bus service; confirm this during your visit.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Tuition — this listing shows $11,069 as both the low and the high figure, but that is not the standard annual tuition. The school website 2026-2027 TK-8 fee schedule labels it clearly as a first-year price for…
• Year opened — 1981 is the founding year of the Heights Christian Schools system as a whole (the school website About Heights page says “Since 1981”); the school website does not say when the Brea campus itself ope…
• Average class size — no page on the school website publishes class sizes or a student-teacher ratio
• Head of school — the school website Brea Campus page lists Mrs. Andrea Taylor as Principal, while the principal field in the CDE private school directory filing says Mrs. Lisa Carlos. This site follows the school web…
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Heights Christian Schools - Brea Campus’s admissions calendar, prepare students for the campus visit and interview, and review application materials before they are submitted. Book a school-selection consultation or read the Chinese version of this page.