Colleges Near DFW

(last updated August 22, 2026)

Some students want to graduate from high school and go to schools far from home to start the next chapter of their lives. It’s totally possible, however, to have your own college adventure without being more than an hour from Mom and Dad. Check out this list of universities and colleges near DFW to get an idea of the grades and test scores you’ll need to secure your spot in an upcoming freshman class (and still come home to do laundry every weekend). If you want help turning this list into an actual application strategy, that’s exactly what our college prep guidance is for.

Colleges Near DFW With More Than 1,000 Undergrads

Austin College – Sherman, TX

Enrollment: ~1,217 undergrads
Tuition & fees: $48,121/year
Average gift aid (new undergrads): $37,693
Automatic admission? No, all applicants undergo review — private school, not subject to Texas’s public-university auto-admit rules
Admission rate: 48%
Test-optional since 2017 (~24% of admits submit scores); for those who do: SAT middle-50% 1100–1310, ACT middle-50% 23–29

Note: Austin College is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Dallas Baptist University (DBU) – Dallas, TX

Enrollment: ~2,978 undergrads
Tuition & fees: ~$40,000/year (confirm exact current figure at dbu.edu/cashier before quoting precisely)
Financial aid: 95% of students receive some aid or scholarship
Automatic Admission: No, all applicants undergo review
Admission rate: 89%
Test-optional; for those who submit: SAT middle-50% ~960–1217, ACT middle-50% ~21–27

Note: Dallas Baptist University is affiliated with the Baptist Church.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) – Dallas, TX

Enrollment: 7,285 undergrads
Tuition & fees: $67,040/year (total cost of attendance ~$89,602/year on-campus)
Average financial aid package: $37,410 (68% of students receive grants/scholarships)
Automatic admission? No, all applicants undergo review
Admission rate: 63%
Test-optional; for those who submit: SAT middle-50% 1320–1480, ACT middle-50% 30–34

Note: Southern Methodist University is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) – Waxahachie, TX

Enrollment: ~1,096 undergrads
Total cost of attendance: ~$34,178/year
Automatic admission? No formal automatic-admission pathway found — standard requirements are a minimum 2.0 HS GPA, ACT 19 / SAT 990 minimum, plus a faith-based admissions component
Admission rate: ~84%
Test required (not optional): ACT middle-50% ~18–23, SAT middle-50% ~930–1100

Note: Southwestern Assemblies of God University is affiliated with the Assemblies of God Church.

Tarleton State University – Stephenville, TX

Enrollment: ~15,130 undergrads (fall 2024)
In-State tuition & fees: ~$8,749–$10,180/year (confirm exact current figure at tarleton.edu/finaid/cost)
Average financial aid package: ~$13,700–$15,300
Automatic admission? Yes, top 50% of graduating class — no test score required for the automatic pathway
Test-optional; for those who submit: ACT middle-50% 19–24, SAT middle-50% 980–1160

East Texas A&M University – Commerce, TX

Renamed from Texas A&M University-Commerce in November 2024 — same school, new name.
Enrollment: ~8,100+ undergrads
Tuition (in-state): ~$10,026/year
Average financial aid package: ~$9,004
Automatic admission? Minimum 2.0 cumulative HS GPA required for admission; confirm current class-rank policy at etamu.edu
Admission rate: ~92%
Permanently test-optional; for those who submit: ACT middle-50% ~18–24, SAT middle-50% ~910–1170

Texas Christian University (TCU) – Fort Worth, TX

Enrollment: 11,152 undergrads (fall 2025)
Total cost of attendance: ~$83,662/year (tuition alone ~$63,500)
Average financial aid package: ~$50,870 need-based scholarship average for first-years (85% of students receive some aid; 70% graduate debt-free)
Automatic admission? No, holistic review — no minimum GPA/test-score floor required
Admission rate: ~43%
Test-optional through the 2026 cycle; admitted-class middle-50%: GPA 3.65–3.95, ACT 28–33, SAT 1200–1400

Note: Texas Christian University is affiliated with the Christian Church.

Texas Wesleyan University – Fort Worth, TX

Enrollment: ~1,796 undergrads (largest first-year class in school history, fall 2025)
Tuition & fees: $42,258/year (total cost of attendance ~$61,930/year on-campus)
Average financial aid package: ~$23,910 for incoming freshmen
Automatic admission? No formal auto-admit rule found — minimum 2.75 GPA (or approved appeal) required; test-optional since 2020
Admission rate: ~69%

Note: Texas Wesleyan University is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Texas Woman’s University (TWU) – Denton, TX

Enrollment: ~10,000+ undergrads
Tuition (in-state, on-campus total cost of attendance): ~$27,877/year
Financial aid: 65% of undergrads receive grants/scholarships
Automatic admission? Yes, Texas high school grads in the top 25% of their class (within 2 years of graduation)
Admission rate: ~96%
Test scores optional for admission (used only for scholarship/honors consideration; SAT 1080 / ACT 21 referenced for scholarship purposes)

University of Dallas (UD) – Irving, TX

Note: this is the private Catholic University of Dallas, a different school from the public University of Texas at Dallas listed below — the two are frequently confused.
Enrollment: 1,444 undergrads (fall 2024)
Tuition & fees: $58,900/year (total cost of attendance ~$79,160/year)
Financial aid: ~98% of students receive merit aid; average freshman scholarship ~$28,325
Automatic admission? No, private school, holistic review
Admission rate: ~53%
Test policy: UD’s own admissions page lists ACT/SAT/CLT scores as required, though some third-party sources describe UD as test-optional — confirm directly with UD admissions before citing either way

Note: University of Dallas is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

University of North Texas (UNT) – Denton, TX

Enrollment: 34,458 undergrads (fall 2024)
In-State tuition + required fees: $11,663/year (total cost of attendance ~$22,857/year)
Average financial aid package: $15,558
Automatic admission? Yes, top 30% of graduating class, OR 3.25+ unweighted GPA, OR qualifying core-course GPA — UNT’s own framework, not the classic UT System Top 10% rule
Admission rate: 72%
Test-optional (nearly half of enrolled students submit no scores); for those who do: ACT middle-50% 19–27, SAT middle-50% 990–1220

Note: UNT also operates a growing satellite campus, UNT at Frisco, in Collin County — same university, same degree, same admission process as the Denton campus above.

University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) – Dallas, TX

Note: this is a separate, independently accredited university from UNT in Denton above — not a satellite campus. Wasn’t on this list in 2017; it’s grown into a real option for DFW families since.
Enrollment: ~2,953 undergrads (2,461 full-time, 1,333 part-time)
In-State tuition: ~$9,595/year
Automatic admission? Broad-access public university — standard Texas public-university application applies
Admission rate: ~84%
Test scores considered but not required; for those who submit: SAT range ~850–1090, ACT range ~14–21

University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) – Arlington, TX

Enrollment: 29,271 undergrads (fall 2024)
In-State tuition: $9,206/year (total cost of attendance ~$30,416–$31,642/year)
Average financial aid package: $13,649 (68% of students receive aid)
Automatic admission? Tiered by class rank, GPA, and (optionally) test score — top quartile gets automatic admission with GPA 3.25+ and no test required; lower tiers have GPA+test combinations. Starting fall 2025, students who don’t meet a tier go to individual holistic review instead of automatic denial.
Admission rate: 80%
Test-optional; for those who submit: ACT middle-50% 19–27, SAT middle-50% 1010–1240

University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) – Richardson, TX

Enrollment: 21,858 undergrads (fall 2024)
In-State tuition + required fees: $14,644/year (total cost of attendance ~$29,769/year)
Average financial aid package: $17,049
Automatic admission? Yes, top 10% of graduating class with the Distinguished Level of Achievement (the classic UT System auto-admit rule); non-traditional/homeschooled students can qualify via SAT 1320 / ACT 28
Admission rate: 65%
Test-optional, though 78% of enrolled students still submit SAT scores — still effectively the norm here. For submitters: ACT middle-50% 24–32, SAT middle-50% 1170–1390. Of enrolled freshmen: 66% were in the top quarter of their HS class, 35% in the top 10%.

Texas A&M University – Fort Worth – Fort Worth, TX

Brand new: this downtown Fort Worth campus (a joint effort with Tarleton State University) is opening its first building and starting classes in fall 2026. Too new for meaningful admissions stats yet, but worth watching if you’re a year or two out — check tamu.edu for updates as it establishes its own admissions profile.

GPA note: most of these schools don’t publish an official average admitted-student GPA in their Common Data Set — where that’s the case, we’ve reported class-rank or test-score ranges instead of a guessed number.

Colleges Near DFW With Fewer Than 1,000 Undergrads

Amberton University – Garland, TX
Arlington Baptist University – Arlington, TX
Concordia University Texas – DFW Center – Grand Prairie, TX (satellite center of Concordia University Texas, whose main campus is in Austin)
Criswell College – Dallas, TX
Dallas Christian College – Farmers Branch, TX
DeVry University – Irving, TX (address may have changed within Irving; confirm current location before directing families there)
Paul Quinn College – Dallas, TX
Southwestern Adventist University – Keene, TX
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Fort Worth, TX
Southwestern Christian College – Terrell, TX
The King’s University – Southlake, TX
Wade College – Dallas, TX
South College – Dallas (opened summer 2025; associate & bachelor’s degrees in nursing, dental, and other health fields) – Farmers Branch, TX
West Coast University: Dallas – Dallas, TX

Community And 2-Year Colleges Near DFW

Collin College – Collin County (Allen, McKinney, Plano, Rockwall, Frisco, TX)
Dallas College (formerly the Dallas County Community College District, consolidated into one institution in 2020 — includes the Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake, and Richland campuses across the Dallas area)
Dallas Institute of Funeral Service – Dallas, TX
Grayson College – Denison, TX
Lincoln College of Technology: Grand Prairie – Grand Prairie, TX
North Central Texas College – Gainesville, TX
Remington College: Dallas – Garland, TX
Remington College: Fort Worth – Fort Worth, TX
Tarrant County College – Tarrant County (Arlington, Fort Worth, Hurst, TX)
Weatherford College – Weatherford, TX

Most of these schools recruit heavily from DFW high schools. If you’re a Dallas-area family planning your test strategy around these universities, our in-home ACT and SAT tutoring across Dallas schools is built around the same admission calendars.