What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$12,311 to $22,943 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $26,243 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $15,039.Aid and debt
49.7%
receive need-based grants
$21,531
average debt at graduation
3,706
students got merit aid
about 11% of undergraduates
$6,461
average merit award
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 960–1210 · 40% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 19–26 · 8% of the class submitted
13% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Important
- Class rank
- Considered
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- First-gen status
- Not considered
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
North Texas rates course rigor as Very Important.
MoreLess
Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong.
North Texas doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
North Texas just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-North Texas essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
30% of North Texas classes have fewer than 20 students.
30%
under 20 students
49.5%
20 to 49
20.5%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. North Texas CDS 2025–26, I-3.
25:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
3.7%
first-years from out of state
18%
live on campus
2%
of men in fraternities
1%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White31.8%
- Hispanic30.6%
- Black18.5%
- Asian7.9%
- Multiracial4.3%
- Unknown / other1.9%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. North Texas CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
45.3% of North Texas students graduate in 4 years.
45.3%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
62.9%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
78%
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
58.5% finish in 6 years, against 62.9% of all students.
A 4.4-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 Denton.
Denton is a city of roughly 150,000 at the northern corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, about 40 minutes from either downtown.
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It has a courthouse square, two universities and a live music scene disproportionate to its size — a direct consequence of the College of Music sitting a few blocks away. Most North Texas students commute, so campus life and city life run together rather than separating.
The City
Mid-size city
Denton, TX
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Larry McMurtry
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Lonesome Dove, wrote The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment, and shared the Academy Award for the Brokeback Mountain screenplay. He took his bachelor's degree here when the school was North Texas State.
Class of 1958
Joe Greene
Anchored the Pittsburgh Steelers' Steel Curtain defence through four Super Bowl wins and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He played at North Texas State and was the first overall pick of the 1969 NFL draft.
Class of 1969
Norah Jones
Won nine Grammy Awards including Album of the Year for Come Away with Me, and has sold tens of millions of records. She studied jazz piano in the College of Music and left before finishing the degree.
G. Brint Ryan
Founded and runs Ryan, the Dallas-based global tax services and software firm. He took both a bachelor's and a master's here, and the university's business college now carries his name.
Class of 1988
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
The One O'Clock Lab Band
North Texas created the first jazz studies degree programme in the United States in 1947, and its top lab band — named for the hour it rehearses — has been Grammy-nominated and is the ensemble music students audition against each semester to move up.
Mean Green
The athletic nickname the university has carried for decades, attached to Scrappy the eagle. It became national shorthand during the era of the defensive line that sent Joe Greene to the NFL.
The Denton square
The 19th-century courthouse square downtown, ringed by record shops, venues and coffee houses, functions as the student union a commuter campus does not otherwise have.
Weekend escapes from Denton
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Denton
Dallas and Fort Worth
About 40 minutesTwo full cities in opposite directions, both within a short drive — museums, professional sport and the metroplex job market.
Lake Ray Roberts and Lake Lewisville
About 20 minutesThe two big reservoirs either side of Denton, and the standard warm-weather escape.
Turner Falls and the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma
About 1 hour 30 minutesThe nearest real hills and swimming holes, straight up I-35 across the Red River.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
About 35 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Dallas Cowboys NFLAbout 40 minutes away
- Dallas Mavericks NBAAbout 45 minutes away
- Texas Rangers MLBAbout 40 minutes away
- Dallas Stars NHLAbout 45 minutes away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Denton sits inside the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, one of the largest corporate job markets in the country, and North Texas students commute into it for internships without relocating.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- American Airlines
- Toyota North America
- AT&T
- Texas Instruments
- Peterbilt Motors
- Texas Health Resources
Dallas and Fort Worth, both about 40 minutes south
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
North Texas admits 70.9% of applicants and charges Texas residents $11,663 in tuition and fees against $23,813 for everyone else, which is the shape of the decision for most of the 90.5% of its entering class who come from in-state. It is test-optional, and the middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted scored 960-1210 on the SAT. The student body is genuinely mixed rather than nominally so: 31.8% white, 30.6% Hispanic, 18.5% Black and 7.9% Asian across 34,414 undergraduates. What sets the place apart academically is the College of Music, which is why visual and performing arts is the third-largest degree area at 9% behind business at 19% — North Texas started the first jazz studies degree programme in the country and its lab bands still recruit nationally. The campus culture is commuter-shaped, though: 18% of undergraduates live in university housing and Greek life is tiny at 2% of men and 1% of women, so students build their lives in Denton rather than on the quad. The trade-offs are the ones that come with scale and access. Teaching runs at 25 students per faculty member and 30.0% of class sections have fewer than 20 students. Only 45.3% graduate in four years and 62.9% within six, aid covers 57.0% of demonstrated need, and graduates who borrow leave owing $21,531.