The Pegasus School

Overview

The Pegasus School is an independent, non-sectarian K-8 private school in Huntington Beach, California, serving grades K-8, founded in 1984, with about 595 students. Tuition for 2026-27 is $33,550, which puts it in the upper range among Orange County private schools at this level. The school does not issue I-20s, so students who need an F-1 visa are not eligible. Bus service is available.

Admissions

The ISEE is required for applicants.

The school publishes the following application details. For the 2027-28 school year: the online application and the visit calendar open September 1; tours are scheduled from October through December; Pegasus Previews, covering the head of school and the admission process, is October 15, the PK and K session is October 22, the grades 1-5 session is November 5, the all-school open house is November 14, the middle school open house is December 2, and the parent and student forum is December 10; applications close January 4, the same day financial aid applications are due; recommendation forms and transcripts are due January 15; decisions are released February 26; and contracts are due March 12. Assessment comes in two tracks: applicants to PK, K and grade 1 first take a one-on-one cognitive assessment, and those whose preliminary results show promise return to campus for a sample class; applicants to grades 2-8 take the ISEE, school code 054191, and once scores arrive they may be invited to an interview, a shadow day or a meeting with grade-level teachers. The school website states that a campus tour is optional and that a parent interview is not a formal step, though the application includes a Parent Questionnaire. The school website also notes that recommendations from friends, relatives or colleagues are not accepted; that the waitlist pool is not ranked; and that diagnosed learning needs can be accommodated in the classroom through a Pegasus Education Plan, but that the school environment is not suited to children who need a one-on-one aide or ABA support (school website, Admissions Overview page, Application Process page, Admissions FAQ page).

The main entry points at a K-8 school are kindergarten and grade 6. Younger applicants are usually evaluated through an on-campus visit, while most applicants above grade 5 need an ISEE score. Start in the fall of the year before entry: visit first to confirm the school is a fit, then decide whether to register for testing.

Tuition and fees

$33,550 a year for new students in 2026-27; $33,500 for returning students; a single price for PK-8 (school website, Affording Pegasus page)

For the 2026-27 school year, $33,550 for new students and $33,500 for returning students, a single price for PK-8. A deposit of 20% of tuition is due at contract signing, by March 15 for new families and February 13 for returning families, with the remaining 80% payable in full, in two installments or monthly. Additional costs listed on the school website, without amounts: middle school textbook fees, BYOD devices, graduation fees, outdoor education in grades 4-8, optional after-school interscholastic athletics in grades 4-8, the Busing Program and Extended Day (school website, Affording Pegasus page).

Financial aid: Need-based financial aid is open to both new and returning families, applied for through the third-party Clarity platform, with a $60 submission fee and uploads of the current year’s tax return and W2. The school website states that awards range from 5% to 100% of tuition and that aid can cover “the entire Pegasus experience”, including after-school activities, Extended Day, field trips, books, loaner devices, lunch and busing. The aid application should be submitted at the same time as the admission application (school website, Affording Pegasus page).

Academics and programs

• Foreign language: Spanish (school website, What We Teach page; the grade 6 Spanish class includes a culture research project)
• Computer science: grade 6 students build and program a robot; there is also environmental education and visual and performing arts (school website, What We Teach page, Middle School page)
• Outdoor education: AstroCamp in grade 6 and the Pali Institute in grade 7; grade 7 also visits the Museum of Tolerance (school website, Middle School page)
• Middle school is BYOD, and after-school interscholastic athletics in grades 4-8 are optional (school website, Affording Pegasus page)
• There is a busing program and Extended Day care, both billed separately (school website, Affording Pegasus 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
The Pegasus School	Huntington Beach	K-8	$33,550	ISEE	—	—
Page Academy — Costa Mesa Campus (Newport Mesa Campus)	Costa Mesa	K-8	$18,920	—	—	2.2 mi
Carden Hall	Newport Beach	K-8	$20,760	On-campus assessment	—	3.3 mi
Huntington Christian School	Huntington Beach	K-8	$11,616	On-campus assessment	—	1.3 mi
Saints Simon & Jude Catholic School	Huntington Beach	K-8	$9,900	—	—	1.5 mi

Where students go next

The school website says graduates go on successfully to high schools locally and across the country (Middle School page), without publishing a list of destinations or percentages

Applying to high school from here usually begins in the spring of grade 7: sit the ISEE or HSPT in the fall of grade 8, then submit materials between November and January. EDUBUS works backward from each target high school’s requirements to plan grades, activities and test preparation across the K-8 years.

Total tuition through graduation

At the 2026-27 rate of $33,550, 9 years covering grades K-8 come to roughly $301,950 in tuition alone. Assuming the 4% annual increase common at private schools, the figure is closer to $355,000. 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	11.8 miles
Northwood	9.4 miles
Turtle Rock	8.2 miles
Portola Springs	14.4 miles

The school runs bus service.

Questions to ask on a campus visit

• Average class size — the Admissions FAQ on the school website gives class size ranges by grade, 16-18 in PK, 18-20 in K, 20-22 in grades 1-5 and 16-18 in grades 6-8, but no school-wide average, and none is estimated
• Bus cities — the Affording Pegasus page on the school website confirms that there is a Busing Program, but the site has no Transportation page and no bus or transport page appears anywhere in its link list, so no…
• Chinese program — the curriculum overview on the What We Teach page lists Spanish as the only foreign language and does not mention Chinese, but that passage is an illustrative overview rather than a full course list,…
• Enrollment — the About/Welcome page on the school website says the school has grown to 595 students but gives no school year; NCES PSS 2023-24 likewise reports 595, including 36 in PK; the CAIS directory lists 59…
• Registration, technology, uniform and activity fees beyond tuition

How EDUBUS helps

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