Private school tuition
Is Sage Hill School worth the tuition?
Sage Hill School (Newport Coast) 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 Sage Hill School cost?
Sage Hill School publishes tuition of $58,100 for 2026-27, which is $232,400 over four years at today's tuition.
| Published tuition | $58,100 (2026-27) |
| Four years at today's tuition (tuition × 4) | $232,400 |
- As the school lists it: $58,100 Upper School / $49,500 Middle School (2026-27).
- Form 990 tuition revenue per student: about $47,116 (program revenue of $27,798,615 for fiscal 2023, tuition and other earned revenue, divided by 590 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?
Sage Hill School has a 151 UC Reach Score, from 223 UC admits counted at each campus for 148 seniors, and Orange County School of the Arts has a 96 score, from 378 admits for 393 seniors, 150.7 and 96.2 admits per 100 seniors.
| Sage Hill School (private) | Orange County School of the Arts (public) | |
|---|---|---|
| UC Reach Score 2025 | 151 | 96 |
| UC admits 2025, counted at each campus | 223 | 378 |
| Seniors | 148 | 393 |
| UC admits per 100 seniors | 150.7 | 96.2 |
| Publishes a counted college list | Yes | Yes |
Sage Hill School: five most-named colleges
- New York University (25)
- Stanford University (16)
- University of California, Berkeley (15)
- University of California, Irvine (15)
- University of Southern California (15)
From the school's own published list, matriculation (where graduates enrolled), 2023-2025; Profile for Colleges 2025-2026. Counts are the school's own.
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.
What does the public school offer?
Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana is 9.6 miles from Sage Hill 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 Sage Hill School?
Some of what a family pays for at Sage Hill 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.
- Class size. Class size is a fair question for the admissions office; we do not hold a student–teacher ratio for Sage Hill School.
- Size and grades served. Sage Hill School enrolled 590 students in 2025 and serves grades 7–12. A school that starts in the middle grades keeps a student in one community for more than four years.
- 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 Sage Hill 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, 9.6 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.