What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$16,980 to $53,450 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $76,604 a year. Average need-based aid package: $54,041.Aid and debt
37%
receive need-based grants
$46,027
average debt at graduation
4,395
students got merit aid
about 39% of undergraduates
$23,724
average merit award
Getting In
Admit rates
48.1%
admitted overall
68.1%
admitted Early Decision
46.8%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at 1x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1110–1330 · 27% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 26–31 · 21% of the class submitted
45.6% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Important
- Personal essay
- Extracurriculars
- Character
- First-gen status
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- Recommendations
- Special talent
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- Class rank
What this means for you
TCU rates course rigor as Very Important, and your essay, your activities, and your first-gen status as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Depth and leadership in a few activities matter more than a long list. And being first-generation can help your application here.
TCU rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
TCU just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-TCU essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
37.9% of TCU classes have fewer than 20 students.
37.9%
under 20 students
55.4%
20 to 49
6.7%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. TCU CDS 2025–26, I-3.
13:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
51%
live on campus
48%
of men in fraternities
59%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White58.9%
- Hispanic21.2%
- Unknown / other4.8%
- Black4.1%
- Multiracial4.1%
- Asian2.5%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. TCU CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
75.4% of TCU students graduate in 4 years.
75.4%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
86%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
93.4%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
78% finish in 6 years, against 86% of all students.
An 8-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
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.
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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.
The City
Major city
Fort Worth, TX
Best For
Notable alumni
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.
Traditions
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 from Fort Worth
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 and game days
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
Internships and jobs nearby
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
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 75.3% 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.