Liberty Christian School

Overview

Liberty Christian School is a Christian K-12 private school in Huntington Beach, California, serving grades K-12, founded in 1970, with about 210 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $8,525 to $10,450, 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. Average class size is about 16. 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. Rolling admissions year-round; the school website does not list a single application deadline. The process: (1) schedule a campus visit; (2) after the visit, submit the application and the registration fee along with current transcripts or report cards, plus an IEP if the student has one; (3) the student and parents meet with the principal or vice principal to discuss interest in attending, academics and faith direction, an interview that is required for grades 7-12; (4) an on-campus placement test is scheduled, using the school’s AR (Accelerated Reader) system to assess reading comprehension and math and to set grade level and placement, with the entrance testing fee already included in the application fee; (5) after admission, families are set up in the Blackbaud payment system and the Sycamore Education student information platform and attend Back to School Night before classes begin (school website, Admissions page, FAQ page, LCS Profile).

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

2026-27 school year (from the 2026-2027 Schedule of Rates chart posted in the middle of the school website’s Tuition & Fees page): $8,525 per year for kindergarten through grade 5, $9,130 for grades 6-8 and $10,450 for grades 9-12, all paid in 11 monthly installments from July through May (installments of $775, $830 and $950 respectively). L.E.A.R.N. Academy, a learning-disability support program, adds $2,200 per year for K-12 (11 installments of $200, with a separate form required). On that same chart the school website states plainly that tuition is not all-inclusive: entrance testing, registration, after-school daycare, field trips, transportation, athletics and graduation-related costs are all billed separately. Two notes: (1) the page’s heading still reads “2025-2026 Tuition & Fees” and the two PDFs linked at the bottom of the page are still the 2025-26 versions, with only the rate chart in the middle of the page updated to 2026-2027; (2) the grade brackets have changed. For 2025-26 they were K-6 $8,360 / 7-8 $9,130 / 9-12 $10,230, and for 2026-27 they become K-5 / 6-8 / 9-12, so grade 6 moves from the elementary rate to the middle school rate, $605 more for the year.

Registration fee (2026-2027 Schedule of Rates): $750 for new students; for returning students, an early bird rate of $550 from December through February, $650 in March and $750 from April through August. Families with more than one child receive another $50 off per child, which cannot be combined with the early bird rate. The registration fee is nonrefundable and includes textbook rental. L.E.A.R.N. Academy is $2,200 per year for K-12, paid in 11 installments of $200. Tuition is collected through Blackbaud Tuition Management; the school office does not accept payments, and card payments carry an additional 2.85% processing fee. International students must pay all charges in full in US dollars once their visa is issued (cash, cashier’s check or money order; card payments add a 2.75% processing fee), but the school website does not publish the tuition amount for international students.

Financial aid: There are two tracks, and each family may use only one. (1) Need-based tuition assistance: complete registration and pay the registration fee first, then apply online through Blackbaud Tuition Management (a $35 application fee, school code 05717); awards are made first come, first served until the funds run out. (2) Discounts and scholarships: $500 off per child for families with more than one child; a one-time $500 off for new students who have attended the school’s Summer in the Son camp; $1,000 if either parent is an active-duty service member or a veteran; $1,000 if either parent serves full time in Christian ministry; and $500 per household for referring a new family who enrolls, which is the one discount that can be combined with others. All discounts require final approval from the principal. Timing note: although the school website’s Tuition & Fees page now carries the 2026-2027 rate chart, the two PDFs linked at the bottom of the page, Discounts, Scholarships, and Tuition Assistance and Schedule of Rates, are still the 2025-2026 versions, and the tuition assistance document deadline in them, June 1, 2025, has passed; families should confirm with the school whether the discount amounts listed above carry over to 2026-27 (2025-2026 Discounts, Scholarships, and Tuition Assistance PDF posted on the school website).

Academics and programs

• Grades 7-12 follow a course sequence built on California state standards plus the University of California a-g requirements, using an eight-period schedule and project-based learning (school website, 7-12 Curriculum page)
• BYU online courses are available to students who want to move ahead or need to make up credit; the school website states explicitly that the school does not use Common Core (school website, LCS Profile and 7-12 Curriculum pages)
• L.E.A.R.N. Academy: a support program for students with learning disabilities, which the Profile says serves about 15% of students, with a separate annual fee (school website, LCS Profile and Schedule of Rates PDF)
• K-6 uses Bob Jones University materials; elementary electives include Sign Language, library, music, choir, handbells, band and PE, with two recesses a day and chapel once a week (school website, LCS Profile)
• Arts offerings include Art, Choir, Handbells, Band and Praise Band; athletics are interscholastic for grades 4-12 (school website, LCS Profile)
• The school holds US Department of Homeland Security SEVP “F” school certification and can issue I-20s for international students in grades 9-12 (school website, International Admissions 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
Liberty Christian School	Huntington Beach	K-12	$8,525	On-campus assessment	16	—
Orange Crescent School	Garden Grove	K-12	$10,900	On-campus assessment	—	3.4 mi
Bethel Baptist School	Santa Ana	K-12	$5,400	On-campus assessment	—	3.5 mi
Hebrew Academy Community Day School	Huntington Beach	K-12	$17,895	—	—	2.9 mi
Orangewood Academy	Garden Grove	K-12	$8,087	—	—	5.8 mi

Where students go next

The school website’s Life Beyond Graduation page says more than 95% of graduates continue their education and about 50% go on to four-year universities; the LCS Profile 2024-2025 on the school website reports the class of 2024 as 40% four-year universities, 50% community colleges and 10% vocational and technical schools. Colleges the Profile lists as recent graduate destinations include UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego, USC, Loyola Marymount University, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Biola University, Concordia University, Point Loma University, Vanguard University, California Baptist University, Grand Canyon University, Westmont College, Colorado State University, Colorado Christian University and Multnomah University, plus two service academies, West Point Academy and Air Force Academy.

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 $8,525, 13 years covering grades K-12 come to roughly $110,825 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $142,000. 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	14.5 miles
Northwood	11.8 miles
Turtle Rock	11.8 miles
Portola Springs	16.9 miles

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

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• 2026-27 tuition — the school website’s Tuition & Fees page is still headed 2025-2026, and the Schedule of Rates PDF posted there only goes through 2025-26
• International student tuition — the International Admissions page offers only three forms, the I-20 Enrollment Application, the I-20 Checklist and the I-20 Re-Enrollment, and the 2026-27 I-20 application form itself gives only paym…
• Number of AP courses — the LCS Profile notes that AP and Honors courses are weighted on a 5.0 scale and that students in the class of 2024 earned college credit in AP Calculus, but the school website publishes no list of A…
• Enrollment — the school website does not publish enrollment for 2025-26 or 2026-27; the figure used is the 210 students reported in the school website’s LCS Profile 2024-2025 (a summer 2024 count), while the CDE …
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

Our Irvine-based counselors work in both Chinese and English. We track Liberty Christian School’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.