Capistrano Valley Christian Schools

Overview

Capistrano Valley Christian Schools is a Christian K-12 private school in San Juan Capistrano, California, serving grades K-12, founded in 1973, with about 700 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $19,500 to $24,350, which puts it in the upper range among Orange County private schools at this level. Religion classes are required, so confirm your family is comfortable with that before applying. Average class size is about 15. 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. For the 2027-28 school year (school website, Admissions - Apply page): applications are open, and the process has four steps - submit the application online, then a student assessment and family interview, then admissions committee review (usually within two weeks), with the decision sent by email. Key dates: the early application period for high school grades 9-12 runs through December 2026, with decisions released on a rolling basis beginning December 15, 2026; re-enrollment for current students closes January 31, 2027, after which remaining places go first to priority applicants and then on a first-come, first-served basis; the priority deadline for elementary and middle school (TK-8) is February 1, 2027, with decisions released the same day; the international priority deadline is January 30, 2027. TK age cutoff: the child must turn 4 on or before September 1 of that school year. Admissions events: Eagle for a Day classroom visits on October 9, 2026, a TK/kindergarten information session on November 5, and a high school information session on November 16. The application fee is $100 (see the 2026-2027 Tuition and Fee Schedule). The school does not use the ISEE or SSAT; it uses its own assessment.

The main entry points at a K-12 school are kindergarten, grade 6 and grade 9; seats in other grades open only when a family leaves. Plan on a 12-month runway: visit in the fall, submit materials and test in the winter, and receive decisions in the spring. Applications for mid-year grades can be filed at any time, but availability depends on that year’s openings.

Tuition and fees

TK5 through grade 6 $19,500 per year, grades 7-8 $21,050 per year, grades 9-12 $24,350 per year, and half-day TK3 $9,250 per year (2026-27, school website); international tuition is $33,888 for grades 5-6, $35,888 for grades 7-8 and $39,888 for grades 9-12 (2026-27, school website, International Tuition PDF)

2026-27 Tuition and Fee Schedule (PDF on the school website, updated 2026-08-04): new-family costs - a $100 application fee (due with the application), a $600 TK-12 enrollment fee (due with the enrollment contract) and a one-time $1,400 per-family entrance fee (due within two weeks of enrollment), all nonrefundable. Re-enrollment fee for current students - $500 before January 31 and $600 from February 1. Payment options - pay the year in full before June 1, 2026 for a 2% discount (TK3 $9,065; TK5-6 $19,110; grades 7-8 $20,630; grades 9-12 $23,865); or pay in 10 installments (July 1, 2026 through April 1, 2027) or 11 installments (June 1, 2026 through April 1, 2027), with a $55 annual FACTS fee for installment plans. Discount - $1,500 off for each child from the third onward. Program fee (billed in March, due May 15): TK-6 $330-$1,055; grades 7-8 $1,100-$1,175; grades 9-12 $1,585-$1,860, covering textbooks, the yearbook, technology, retreats, the PSAT and more. Beyond tuition and the program fee, families pay separately for uniforms (TK-12), textbooks (grades 7-12), performing arts, field trips, AP exam fees, Eagles Kitchen meals, athletics (by sport for grades 5-8; a $2,000 annual fee plus incidentals for grades 9-12) and after-school care (TK5-8, available until 6:00 pm). International students follow the 2026-2027 International Tuition and Fee Schedule: $33,888 for grades 5-6, $35,888 for grades 7-8 and $39,888 for grades 9-12.

Financial aid: Need-based financial aid is applied for through FACTS Financial Aid Management (online.factsmgt.com/aid). New families: applications open January 1, with a February 1 priority deadline and decisions by February 20. Current families: applications open January 1, 2026, with a priority deadline of March 1, 2026; families are notified two to three weeks after FACTS completes its review. Conditions: recipients must maintain a GPA above 2.0, the family must volunteer at the school, aid cannot be combined with other discounts, and the family account must carry no outstanding balance. The school website does not publish the share of families receiving aid or the average award, nor does it state whether international students are eligible. (school website, Admissions - Financial Aid page)

Academics and programs

• The high school offers 24 AP/Honors courses; in 2025, 134 students took AP exams with a 78% pass rate, and the school was named to the AP Honor Roll (school website, High School Profile PDF)
• ProU Pathways: three specialized tracks - engineering (AP Calculus BC, robotics), entrepreneurship (AP Business, the Concordia business plan competition) and medicine (AP Biology, volunteer internships at Mission Hospital) (school website, High School Academics page)
• International program: the school is SEVP-certified and can issue the I-20; grades 9-12 have SDAIE language support courses and a 12-week Vital English preparatory program; TOEFL Jr., Duolingo, iTEP, IELTS and similar scores are accepted; the school website offers a Chinese-language admissions brochure; K-8 international students must live with their parents, and homestays are not accepted (school website, Admissions - International page)
• World languages: Spanish (including AP Spanish) and American Sign Language, ASL 1-4; the high school course list on the school website includes no Chinese course (school website, High School - Courses page)
• 1:1 MacBook Air in the high school; a campus podcast network with 13 shows (school website, High School Academics page)
• RISE: a fee-based support program for students with an IEP or 504 and mild learning difficulties; the school website states that it is not an intervention program (school website, Admissions FAQ 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
Capistrano Valley Christian Schools	San Juan Capistrano	K-12	$19,500	On-campus assessment	15	—
St. Margaret’s Episcopal School	San Juan Capistrano	K-12	$37,000	ISEE	—	1.2 mi
The Geneva School	Lake Forest	K-11	$12,000	On-campus assessment	15	9.3 mi
Newport Christian School	Newport Beach	K-12	$9,912	ISEE	17	15.0 mi
TVT Community Day School (Tarbut V’Torah)	Irvine	K-12	$37,285	On-campus assessment	—	13.0 mi

Where students go next

The class of 2025 had 70 graduates, 82% of whom enrolled at four-year universities and 18% at two-year colleges; they received 263 offers of admission in all, and 72% received scholarships. Colleges that have admitted students over the past five years include Stanford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley and UCLA (school website, High School Profile PDF)

Students continuing internally generally do not test again, but families planning to move to a different high school in grade 9 should start preparing in the spring of grade 7.

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $19,500, 13 years covering grades K-12 come to roughly $253,500 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $324,000. 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	14.6 miles
Northwood	16.7 miles
Turtle Rock	12.6 miles
Portola Springs	14.9 miles

The school does not run buses, so plan on driving or carpooling.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• AP count — the High School Profile PDF and the High School Academics page both give only the combined figure “24 AP/honors courses” for AP and Honors together, with no separate count of AP courses, so the two c…
• Enrollment — pages across the school website say “more than 700 students” (some pages say more than 720) and more than 300 in the high school, both approximate; the CDE figure on file for 2025-26 is 689. The figu…
• Aid coverage not published — the school website’s Financial Aid page describes only the application platform, the timeline and the conditions for keeping an award, with no share of families receiving aid and no average amount; w…
• The $5,500 first-year fee in the international tuition PDF — the existing FAQ text mentions an additional $5,500 first-year fee, but this review did not reopen the International Tuition PDF to re-verify that item; verification is recommended in the next round
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Capistrano Valley Christian Schools’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.