Private school tuition
Is Crean Lutheran High School worth the tuition?
Crean Lutheran High School (Irvine) set beside Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana), the highest-scoring public high school within 15 miles that has at least 100 seniors. The two are compared on cost, on 2025 UC outcomes and on what each offers.
What does Crean Lutheran High School cost?
Crean Lutheran High School publishes tuition of $23,575 for 2026-27, which is $94,300 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $23,575 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $94,300 |
- As the school lists it: $23,575 (2026-27; international $40,810; registration fee $850).
- Form 990 tuition revenue per student: about $10,871 (program revenue of $12,241,151 for fiscal 2016, tuition and other earned revenue, divided by 1,126 students; the IRS filing, not the school's published price).
- The four-year figure holds tuition constant. It leaves out fees, books, transportation and any financial aid, which Reach does not hold; the school's admissions office can say what applies.
How do their UC outcomes compare?
Crean Lutheran High School has a 94 UC Reach Score, from 269 UC admits counted at each campus for 285 seniors, and Orange County School of the Arts has a 96 score, from 378 admits for 393 seniors, 94.4 and 96.2 admits per 100 seniors.
| Crean Lutheran High School (private) | Orange County School of the Arts (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 94 | 96 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 269 | 378 |
| Seniors | 285 | 393 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 94.4 | 96.2 |
| Publishes a counted college list | No | Yes |
Orange County School of the Arts: five most-named colleges
- University of Southern California (23)
- University of California - Berkeley (20)
- Orange Coast College (16)
- Chapman University (15)
- University of California - Los Angeles (14)
From the school's own published list, matriculation (where graduates enrolled), Class of 2026; Academic Profile 2026-27. Counts are the school's own.
Crean Lutheran High School does not publish a counted college list that we hold, so only one list is shown.
What does the public school offer?
Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana is 8.6 miles from Crean Lutheran High School, has a 96 UC Reach Score and enrolled 1,915 students in 2026.
- UC Reach Score 2025: 96, from 378 UC admits for 393 seniors.
- Enrollment: 1,915 students (2026).
- A-G completion: 88.1% of the 2024-25 graduating cohort of 392 met the UC/CSU course requirements (California median 55.9%).
- Full profile: Orange County School of the Arts.
What are families also paying for at Crean Lutheran High School?
Some of what a family pays for at Crean Lutheran High School is something only a private school can offer. None of it shows up in a UC Reach Score, and each item is a question of fit rather than a ranking.
- A community chosen by fit. A private school runs its own admissions process, so the application, the entrance exam and the interview work as a fit signal in both directions: the school learns about the student, and the family learns how the school talks about its students.
- Its own values and program. A private school sets its own curriculum, calendar and expectations rather than inheriting a district's, so a family can look for a philosophy it shares.
- A faith community. Crean Lutheran High School is a religiously affiliated school, which matters to families who want faith to be part of the school day.
- Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists Crean Lutheran High School at 15.3 students per teacher across 982 students.
- Size and grades served. Crean Lutheran High School enrolled 1,126 students in 2025 and serves grades 9–12.
- Advising, arts and athletics. A private school builds its own college advising and its own arts and athletics offerings, and a smaller school can mean more students on each team and in each production. Ask what the counselor caseload and the participation look like.
Parents are not only shopping for college outcomes. The UC Reach Score counts one thing, UC admits per 100 seniors, and it says nothing about whether a teenager will be known, challenged and happy at a school for four years.
Public schools are a great choice when a family cannot afford a private school, and the section above shows what Orange County School of the Arts offers.
More on Crean Lutheran High School: its full profile, more private high schools in Orange County, and private vs public high schools in Orange County. Other schools are on the is it worth the tuition? index.
UC Reach Score is top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors in 2025, counted at each campus, so a student admitted to several campuses counts at each; a "~" marks an estimated senior count. Tuition is the figure the school publishes on its admissions pages, for the year shown. The public school is the highest-scoring district or charter high school within 15 miles (straight-line distance, 8.6 miles here) that reaches grade 12, has at least 100 seniors and is not an online, independent-study or alternative program. Form 990 figures come from the school's IRS filing, as reported through ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer; its program revenue includes tuition and other earned revenue. A-G completion is the California Department of Education's adjusted cohort graduation file; the counselor ratio is the federal Civil Rights Data Collection.