At a Glance
TCU admits 48.1% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
Net price data temporarily unavailable. Visit each school's net price calculator directly.
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Sticker price
Not reported by this school
Debt at Graduation
37%
receive need-based grant aid
$46,027
average debt at graduation
TCU graduates carry an average of $46,027 in debt.
Merit Aid
4,395
students received merit aid
$23,724
average merit award
Getting In
TCU admits 48.1% of applicants.
Texas Christian University's Early Decision applicants are admitted at 1x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 68.1% vs 46.8%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 27% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 21% of the class submitted
45.6% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Texas Christian University considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Considered — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
37.9% of TCU classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At TCU, 37.9% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
13:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
51%
Men in fraternities
48%
Women in sororities
59%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
TCU's student body is 58.9% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
TCU graduates 75.4% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
TCU graduates 75.4% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
TCU
75.4%
4-yr grad rate
Data pending
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
86%
Overall 6-yr rate
78%
Pell recipient rate
An 8 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
93.4%
93.4% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Fort Worth.
TCU sits on a 302-acre campus in a residential, tree-lined neighborhood about four miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth — the 11th largest city in the country, and a working city with its own museums, hospital district and corporate headquarters rather than a suburb of Dallas. The campus is compact enough to cross on foot in about fifteen minutes and is built to keep students on it: first-year students are required to live on campus for two academic years. The trade-off is that the rail lines out of Fort Worth start downtown, not at the edge of campus, so getting to Dallas or the airport without a car means getting downtown first.
Notable Alumni
Bob Schieffer
Moderated CBS's Face the Nation for 24 years and anchored the CBS Evening News, after covering Washington for four decades as the network's chief Washington correspondent. TCU named its College of Communication for him in 2013.
Class of 1959
LaDainian Tomlinson
NFL Most Valuable Player and a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. As a Horned Frog he set a Division I single-game record with a 406-yard rushing game and won the Doak Walker Award; TCU retired his No. 5 in 2005 and he now sits on the university's Board of Trustees.
Class of 2005
Betty Buckley
Won the 1983 Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella in the original Broadway production of Cats, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2012. A Fort Worth native, she took a journalism degree here and sang at the Miss America pageant as a TCU senior.
Class of 1968
John V. Roach
Became one of the youngest chief executives in the country when he took over Tandy Corp., the Fort Worth parent of RadioShack, in 1981, and was named its chairman two years later. He later chaired TCU's Board of Trustees, and the university's honors college carries his name.
Class of 1961
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Fort Worth, TX
Best For
Traditions
Riff, Ram, Bah, Zoo
TCU's cheer is over a hundred years old and is said to be the oldest chant in the old Southwest Conference. It comes paired with the Go Frogs hand sign — a peace sign with the fingers curled to make the horns of a horned frog — which a cheerleader popularised in 1980 and which is now the default greeting between Horned Frogs anywhere.
Frogs First
A four-day welcome that every incoming first-year student is required to attend, held the weekend before classes start. It is where the traditions get handed over — students meet peers, upperclassmen, faculty and staff before a single class meets, and part of the weekend is a family dinner hosted by faculty, staff and alumni.
The Christmas Tree Lighting
Every December the university lights a 50-foot tree in the TCU Commons, with fireworks and a SuperFrog Santa. It is the one campus tradition that belongs as much to Fort Worth families as to students, and it sits alongside Late Night Breakfast during finals week as the winter fixed points here.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Fort Worth
Dallas
About 45 minutesThirty-odd miles east on I-30 for the museums, the concerts and the airport connections Fort Worth doesn't carry. The Trinity Railway Express also runs between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, though the nearest station is downtown rather than on campus.
Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose
About an hour and 15 minutesDinosaur tracks in the bed of the Paluxy River, twenty miles of hiking trails, and swimming and paddling in the river — the closest real outdoors to campus and an easy afternoon.
Austin and the Hill Country
About 3 hoursThe standard Texas long weekend, straight down I-35 through Waco. Far enough that it is a two-night trip rather than a day out.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
About 45 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Dallas Cowboys NFL
- Texas Rangers MLB
- Dallas Mavericks NBA
- Dallas Stars NHL
- FC Dallas MLS
Career Proximity
TCU sits four miles from downtown Fort Worth inside a metro of roughly eight million people, and its own career center publishes an employer list that is overwhelmingly local — the airline, the railroad, the defence plant and the hospital systems are all a short drive from campus rather than a summer relocation.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- American Airlines
- BNSF Railway
- Lockheed Martin
- Alcon
- Texas Health Resources
Downtown Fort Worth, about four miles northeast of campus, with Dallas about 45 minutes east
Who Thrives Here
TCU admits 48.1% of applicants and 68.1% through early decision. It is small enough to feel small — 11,152 undergraduates, 13 students per faculty member — and it holds on to people: 93.4% come back for a second year, 75.4% finish in four and 86.0% within six, which is the strongest completion record among the Texas schools here. Greek life is the defining social fact rather than one option among many: 48% of men and 59% of women join, and 51% of undergraduates live in university housing. A student who wants nothing to do with that should picture four years around it before applying. Class sizes are not the seminar experience the price suggests either — 37.9% of sections have fewer than 20 students, though 93.3% have fewer than 50. Cost is the other half: tuition and fees run $66,610, TCU meets 78.6% of demonstrated need, graduates leave with $46,027 in average debt, and non-need-based awards average $23,724 for the students who receive one.