Eastside Christian Schools

Overview

Eastside Christian Schools is a Christian K-12 private school in Fullerton, California, serving grades K-12, founded in 1976, with about 140 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $7,725 to $9,200, which puts it in the lower 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

Entrance exam requirements are not published; contact admissions.

The school publishes the following application details. The school website lists five steps for new domestic students: complete the online Interest Form, schedule a campus tour, submit the formal application with the required documents, interview with the principal (New Student Interview), and wait for the admission decision. For the 2026-27 school year there is an early bird offer: the $150 application fee is waived for families who complete the interview before February 28, 2026. The school website gives no application deadline and does not state whether a standardized entrance exam is required. International students apply through a separate International Student Application.

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

Annual tuition for the 2026-27 school year: $7,725 for grades K-5, $8,450 for grades 6-8 and $9,200 for grades 9-12 (the 2025-26 figures were $7,500, $8,200 and $8,900 respectively, and the same table on the school website projects a further 3% increase for 2027-28). Church and status-based discounts are given as a percentage rather than as a separate member price list: members of GMI (Grace Ministries International), full-time pastors outside GMI (a letter from the church is required) and veteran or active-duty military families all receive 30% off, which the school website lists as $2,317.50 for K-5, $2,535 for grades 6-8 and $2,760 for grades 9-12. Sibling discounts: 10% off for the second child and 50% off for the third and any later child, applied to the child with the higher tuition. (2026-27 Tuition + Fee Information document posted on the school website’s Tuition & Fees page)

New students: a $150 application fee (paid on the interview day, and waived for interviews completed before February 28, 2026) and a $500 registration fee (due before July 1, 2026). Re-enrollment fee for current students: $150 before February 28, 2026 and $300 before April 30. Student fees (due before July 15) are $440 for elementary and $250 for Bridge and middle and high school, covering textbooks and supplies, ACSI and WASC dues, standardized testing, the yearbook, class shirts and transportation for field trips. Athletic fees are $200 per season for elementary and middle school and $300 for high school. After-school care is $5 per hour (open until 6:00 pm, with an additional $5 per minute past closing), and after-school enrichment classes are $5-15 per session. Hot lunch is $5 per meal for grades K-2 and $6.50 for grade 3 and above. Middle school experiential learning trips and high school short-term mission trips each cost roughly $1,500-2,500. Students who withdraw after April 30 are charged tuition by the quarter.

Financial aid: The school has two in-house channels. The first is financial aid, open to any family with need and assessed against the 2025 federal poverty guidelines; the contact is finance@eastsidechristian.org. The second is a Merit-Based Scholarship for current students in grades 1-12, judged on academic performance and contribution to the school community; for the 2026-27 school year, applications closed March 1 and results were emailed by May 1 (that round has now closed). The school website does not publish the share of students receiving aid or the average award.

Academics and programs

• The high school offers AP courses; the school website lists AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP US History, AP US Government, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Economics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science Principles + A and AP Art, and notes “and more” (school website, Jr High & High School page)
• Bridge Program: a distinct level between elementary and middle school, with student fees at the same rate as middle and high school (school website, Academics navigation and the 2026-27 tuition table)
• Comprehensive college and career counseling: the school website states that its counselor has more than 15 years of college and career counseling experience, and there is a separate social-emotional and spiritual counseling track (school website, Jr High & High School page)
• Elementary Student Success Team: led by a resource teacher, it provides individualized academic support for students who need extra help (school website, Elementary & Kindergarten page)
• Weekly elementary enrichment activities: STEM Club, Ukulele Club, Worship Team, the Eagles E-News campus newscast and a soccer clinic; paid tutoring by the school’s own teachers is available after school four days a week (school website, Elementary & Kindergarten page)
• Teams: basketball, volleyball and badminton (school website, Athletics navigation)

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
Eastside Christian Schools	Fullerton	K-12	$7,725	—	—	—
Acaciawood Preparatory Academy	Anaheim	K-12	$7,570	On-campus assessment	—	1.7 mi
Veritas Classical Academy	Fullerton	K-12	Not published	On-campus assessment	—	0.7 mi
Anaheim Discovery Christian School	Anaheim	K-12	$10,490	On-campus assessment	—	4.0 mi
Orangewood Academy	Garden Grove	K-12	$8,087	—	—	7.7 mi

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $7,725, 13 years covering grades K-12 come to roughly $100,425 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $128,000. 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	14.1 miles
Turtle Rock	18.1 miles
Portola Springs	18.3 miles

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

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Entrance exam — the school website’s Admissions - New US Student page describes a five-step process (Interest Form, tour, application, principal interview, admission decision) and never mentions a written test or st…
• Chinese program — the school website’s Course Offering page has only a link to a 2026-2027 course list in a Google document, which requires a login to open (export?format=txt returns a 401). In the publicly readable 2…
• AP count — the school website’s Jr High & High School page names 14 AP courses but ends with “And more!”, so the number actually offered cannot be determined
• Average class size — the school website does not publish class sizes or a student-teacher ratio. CDE records show 16 full-time teachers, 4 part-time teachers and 140 enrolled students, but class size cannot be derived fr…
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Eastside 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.