University of North Texas at Dallas, the fastest-growing and most affordable four-year university in Dallas-Fort Worth, set an enrollment record for the third consecutive fall with 3,750 students enrolled at the 8-year-old school.

“At UNT Dallas we are purposeful in our strategic efforts to close the educational disparity gap that exists in North Texas,” UNT Dallas President Bob Mong said. “We are committed to being a pathway to socioeconomic mobility for our students.”

UNT Dallas has seen enrollment increase rapidly under Mong’s leadership, jumping 51 percent over the course of his three years leading the only public university in the City of Dallas. UNT Dallas is ranked No. 2 nationally and No. 1 in Texas for lowest student debt among public universities, according to a study using Peterson’s College Data.

The 264-acre UNT Dallas campus located in southern Dallas, is also growing physically.

The campus opened a 119-bed residence hall in 2017 and is filled to capacity for the second consecutive year, transforming UNT Dallas into a residential campus. A masterplan continues to evolve with the construction of the $63-million, state-of-the-art Student Center, scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2019.

In downtown Dallas, the UNT Dallas College of Law’s historic, soon-to-be home – the former Dallas City Hall at 106 S. Harwood St. – is undergoing a $56 million renovation in order to house the City’s only public law school. This historic repurposing of one of Dallas’ most-cherished landmarks will be completed in 2019 and is accompanied by a recently completed $15 million exterior facelift of the building by the City of Dallas. 

Texas State Senator Royce West, a staunch advocate of higher education in Dallas, is quick to point out that UNT Dallas is the most affordable four-year university in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, offering tuition to full-time students for less than $9,200 per year. UNT Dallas is diverse, as more than 80 percent of its student body is African-American or Hispanic, which reflects the areas the university serves.

“I am proud of UNT Dallas and this year’s new record for enrollment shows that the university is growing with our diverse, urban population,” West said. “I championed the creation of the first state-supported, public, four-year university in the City of Dallas because it was time for the largest city in our nation’s fourth-largest metropolitan area to have a public university within its boundary. The second was that I wanted accessibility and affordability to higher education for the constituents I served and those yet unborn.”