Sage Hill School

Overview

Sage Hill School is an independent, non-sectarian high private school in Newport Beach, California, serving grades 7-12, founded in 2000, with about 597 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $49,500 to $58,100, which puts it in the upper range among Orange County private schools at this level. Average class size is about 14. The school offers 20 AP courses. Mandarin is offered. The school does not issue I-20s, so students who need an F-1 visa are not eligible. Bus service is available, covering Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Tustin, Santa Ana.

Admissions

ISEE or SSAT is required.

The school publishes the following application details. For the 2027-28 school year: the online application opens September 1, 2026, and ISEE or SSAT scores, transcripts and three letters of recommendation, from a principal or college counselor, the current English teacher and the current math teacher, must arrive by January 31, 2027. The student interviews alone, without parents, for about an hour. Admission events: the Admission Open House for grades 5-11 is October 3, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; Shadow Day is open only to students who have already applied and runs from September 16, 2026 through February 3, 2027; a parent coffee is held September 14, 2026; and Academic Information Night is January 12, 2027. The main entry points are grade 7 and grade 9. The school website does not list a decision release date (school website, How to Apply and Attend an Event pages)

For schools whose main entry point is grade 9, the target list should be settled before the fall of grade 8: attend open houses and shadow days in the fall, submit applications and sit the entrance test between November and January, and expect decisions in March. The summer after grade 7 is a realistic time to start ISEE or HSPT preparation.

Tuition and fees

$58,100 per year for the Upper School (grades 9-12) and $49,500 per year for the Middle School (grades 7-8) (2026-27, school website, Affording Sage Hill page; the 2025-26 rate was $55,900)

Enrollment deposits: $5,810 for the Upper School and $4,950 for the Middle School, nonrefundable and applied to the first tuition payment. Payment options: in full, in two installments (70%/30%), or in 10 installments. Flexible Tuition is applied for through the Clarity platform, with a $65 submission fee. Bus service is charged separately: an annual round-trip pass is $2,271 and a one-way pass $1,514; for a second child, $1,190 round trip and $757 one way; a third child rides free; and a book of 5 one-way tickets is $81 (school website, Affording Sage Hill and Transportation pages)

Financial aid: Flexible Tuition sets tuition according to a family’s financial capacity. The school is putting about $5 million into it for the 2026-27 school year, about 17% of students receive it, and awards range from about $5,000 up to the full $58,100. Applications go through the Clarity platform, with a $65 submission fee. The deadline is January 31, 2027 for new families and November 13, 2026 for current families (school website, Affording Sage Hill page; the School Profile 2025-2026 separately records 16% and more than $4.5 million for 2025-26)

Academics and programs

• 20 AP courses plus 3 Post-AP courses (multivariable calculus, advanced topics in mathematics, and advanced topics in computer science); the school recommends that students take no more than 3 Honors and AP courses combined in a year (School Profile 2025-2026)
• Chinese: offered through Chinese IV, in two strands, Contemporary Society and Literature and Film; Spanish, French and Latin are also offered (School Profile 2025-2026)
• Sage Center signature programs: Service Learning, with 8 Sage Center Days each year, 6 of which are given over entirely to service learning; Spring at Sage, a spring week of travel and seminar study; and the Sage Hill Internship Program (school website FAQ; Spring at Sage and SHIP are described in the School Profile 2025-2026)
• Sage Connected hybrid online courses: online interaction combined with regular in-person meetings and individual feedback (School Profile 2025-2026)
• Visual and performing arts: more than 25 performing and visual arts courses in the Upper School and 8 arts electives in the Middle School (school website FAQ)
• Two bus routes: a Long Beach/Huntington Beach/Newport Beach route leaving PCH & 2nd St at 6:35 a.m. and a Santa Ana/Tustin route leaving The Wooden Floor at 6:35 a.m., both arriving at school at 7:30 a.m.; the afternoon bus leaves school at 6:30 p.m. to accommodate athletics and arts rehearsals (school website, Transportation page)

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
Sage Hill School	Newport Beach	7-12	$49,500	ISEE or SSAT	14	—
Ronald Reagan Secondary School	Laguna Hills	7-12	$35,000	None	—	5.9 mi
Pacifica Christian High School, Orange County	Newport Beach	9-12	$25,490	ISEE	16	6.4 mi
Crean Lutheran High School	Irvine	9-12	$23,575	—	19	8.0 mi
Mater Dei High School	Santa Ana	9-12	$21,150	HSPT	—	8.1 mi

Where graduates go

The Class of 2026 has 142 students; destinations confirmed as of June 8, 2026 include 14 at USC, 12 at UC Berkeley, 11 at NYU, 7 at UCLA, 7 at UCI, 5 at Cornell and 4 at Stanford (school website, Class of 2026 College Report)

For college applications from this school, EDUBUS can begin with course selection in grade 9.

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $49,500, 6 years covering grades 7-12 come to roughly $297,000 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $328,000. 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	7.3 miles
Northwood	7.2 miles
Turtle Rock	1.4 miles
Portola Springs	9.7 miles

The school runs bus service, covering Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Tustin, Santa Ana.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Application fee amount — the How to Apply, Admission Overview and FAQ pages do not list it; the school website says only that applications are submitted on the Ravenna platform
• Decision notification date — the How to Apply and Admission Overview pages on the school website give only deadlines and no decision release date
• Actual enrollment for the 2026-27 school year — the school website gives only 597 students for 2025-26, in the School Profile, and a planned figure of about 700 for 2026-27, in the FAQ, with no actual count
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Sage Hill School’s admissions calendar, prepare students for the ISEE, and review application materials before they are submitted. Book a school-selection consultation or read the Chinese version of this page.