Mater Dei High School

Overview

Mater Dei High School is a Catholic high private school in Santa Ana, California, serving grades 9-12, founded in 1950, with about 1,851 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $21,150 to $22,800, 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 offers 21 AP courses. Mandarin is offered. The school accepts F-1 international students and issues the I-20 needed for a student visa.

Admissions

The HSPT (Catholic high school placement test, offered once each January) is required.

The school publishes the following application details. For the 2027-28 school year (the Class of 2031), grade 9 is the main entry point. Applications and tuition assistance open together on September 1, 2026; the Fall Rally Shadow Day is September 4; the fall Open House is October 7; Parent Social Night is November 3; Early Acceptance and aid applications close December 7; the winter Open House is January 13, 2027; the HSPT is given on three dates (January 16, January 21 and January 30); and registration opens January 22, when the first aid notifications go out, with rolling admission after that. Early Acceptance requires the application form, the $80 application fee, a parent letter, a student letter, a teacher recommendation, the grade 7 transcript, the first-semester grade 8 transcript, and grade 7 and grade 8 standardized test scores. Transfer students are admitted on a rolling basis as space allows and do not take the HSPT; they must have a GPA above 2.0 with no F grades, and the school generally does not accept transfers into grade 12 (school website, Freshman Applicant page, Transfer Applicant page and Entrance Exam page)

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

$21,150 a year for Catholic families and $22,800 a year for non-Catholic families (2026-27, school website, Tuition and Fees page; there is also a technology fee of $1,100 a year and a registration fee of $700-900)

For 2026-27 (school website, Tuition and Fees page, which notes that all rates are subject to diocesan and budget approval): a technology fee of $1,100 per student per year, paid with the first tuition installment, covering an iPad, a keyboard case, the MD iPad protection plan, online learning resources and all required e-books, with the iPad remaining school property and not available for purchase; a registration fee in three tiers by payment date, Early (January 9 to February 28) $700, Regular (March 1 to April 30) $800 and Late (after May 1) $900; and a Class of 2027 senior class fee of $400, posted to the FACTS account in fall 2026 and due by April 1, 2027, with senior tuition required to be paid in full by May 1 each year. The application fee is $80 and includes the cost of the entrance exam (HSPT). Tuition is paid through FACTS, with four options: annual, semi-annual, ten-month and monthly. Discounts apply only to the annual and semi-annual plans: $175 off if paid in full by April 30, $150 off if paid between May 1 and June 30, and $75 off in total for the semi-annual plan. The late fee is $25 and the returned-payment fee is $30. Academic fees, textbooks, and athletic and extracurricular fees are billed separately, and MAPs program fees are to be determined. International students have their own tuition schedule: $46,400 (tuition only), $70,100 (including homestay) and $92,400 (including a student apartment), effective fall 2026

Financial aid: Aid is assessed through FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment, with amounts set by the school’s Financial Review Committee. For the 2027-28 school year the aid application opens the same day as the admission application (September 1, 2026) and closes December 7, 2026, with FACTS verification required to be complete by that date; families who apply on time are notified in January 2027, while late applications are still accepted but are not taken up until after January 22 and stop once the budget is exhausted. Required documents are the 2025 federal tax return and W-2s, recent pay stubs, and a rent or mortgage statement. The conditions for keeping an award are published on the school website: a GPA of at least 2.0, no serious disciplinary issues, completion of the semester’s service hours, and compliance with attendance rules; otherwise the award may be revoked. There are also scholarships specific to the Class of 2031: the Principal’s Scholarship ($10,000, paid as $2,500 a year over four years, awarded to the student with the highest national composite HSPT score, no application required, with the exam taken at Mater Dei on one of the three dates of January 16, January 21 or January 30, or scores sent by February 1, 2027), the President’s Scholarship ($12,000, 5 awards), the Heart of Santa Ana Scholarship ($20,000, 2 awards, for Santa Ana residents) and the Alumni Heritage Fund Grant (amount varies; the student must also qualify for financial aid and have a parent or grandparent who is an alumnus). The last three close December 7, 2026. Current students may also apply for the Monarch Club Athletic Grant. The At a Glance page states “50% of students who receive financial aid” (school website, Tuition Assistance Information page and At a Glance page)

Academics and programs

• 21 AP courses, 59 Honors courses and more than 109 electives (2025-26 School Profile)
• A STEM Distinction program and a biotechnology certificate, with tracks including computer science, CSI and environmental science (School Profile)
• An Apple Distinguished School since 2012, with a school-wide 1:1 iPad program (At a Glance page)
• Chinese courses: Chinese I, Chinese II and Honors Chinese II-IV, starting with the pinyin system; incoming students can place out using the Chinese Placement Exam (70 percent places into Chinese II, 80 percent into Honors Chinese II); AP Chinese does not appear in the AP course list (World Languages page, School Profile)
• 82 visual and performing arts courses, with 44 percent of students participating; 28 athletic teams across three seasons, with 63 percent of students participating (2025-26 School Profile)
• Learning Center: a licensed clinical and pediatric neuropsychologist plus three learning specialists, supporting students with learning differences (School Profile)

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
Mater Dei High School	Santa Ana	9-12	$21,150	HSPT	—	—
Cristo Rey Orange County High School	Santa Ana	9-12	Not published	On-campus assessment	—	1.1 mi
Orange Lutheran High School (Lutheran High School of Orange County)	Orange	9-12	$20,800	None	—	7.5 mi
Pacifica Christian High School, Orange County	Newport Beach	9-12	$25,490	ISEE	16	7.4 mi
Servite High School	Anaheim	9-12	$20,710	HSPT	—	9.3 mi

Where graduates go

Class of 2025 (511 graduates): 100% College Placement, with 70 percent going to four-year colleges and 30 percent to two-year colleges, plus 4.5 percent taking a gap year, entering the military, attending a trade school or going to work; $33.7M in admission scholarships in total; the School Profile includes the full list of colleges students were admitted to (2025-26 School Profile, At a Glance page)

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 $21,150, 4 years covering grades 9-12 come to roughly $84,600 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $90,000. 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	8.3 miles
Northwood	5.4 miles
Turtle Rock	7.4 miles
Portola Springs	10.6 miles

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

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Transportation — neither the Admissions pages nor the At a Glance page on the school website has a Transportation section, and there is no affirmative statement that the school does not run buses
• Average class size — the 2025-26 School Profile gives faculty and student numbers and counselor staffing but does not publish an average class size
• Trinity League membership — this claim could not be found in the School Profile or on the home page of the official materdeiathletics.org, so it has been removed from the body text
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

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