Two campuses, two different searches

The University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas are both in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but a search near one looks nothing like a search near the other.

UNT was established in 1890 and its main campus is in Denton, the county seat of Denton County. UNT places Denton about 36 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth and lists nearly 44,000 students (UNT, About UNT, checked October 2, 2026).

UT Dallas joined the University of Texas System in 1969. Its address is 800 W. Campbell Road in Richardson, and it lists more than 30,139 students across seven schools (UT Dallas, About Us, checked October 2, 2026).

Both schools run on a fall calendar. At UT Dallas, fall 2026 classes began on August 24 (UT Dallas academic calendar). If you are moving for a fall start, the two dates to line up are the first day of your lease and the first day of class.

UT Dallas: the Silver Line changed the map

DART opened the Silver Line on October 25, 2025. UT Dallas station is one of its ten stations, about a third of a mile north of campus.

Going east, the line stops at CityLine/Bush, where it meets the Red and Orange lines, and then at 12th Street and Shiloh Road in south Plano. Going west, it runs through Knoll Trail, Addison and Downtown Carrollton to DFW Airport Terminal B.

That puts more than the blocks next to campus within reach of a class schedule. Our page on UT Dallas and Synergy Park covers the apartments around the campus; CityLine is one stop east; and the Richardson page covers the rest of the city, with Census rents.

Living on campus at UT Dallas

University Housing lists three options: University Commons residence halls for first-year students, University Village unfurnished apartments for students past their first year, and Canyon Creek Heights furnished apartments. The priority deadline for first-year housing applications is April 1, 2027 (UT Dallas University Housing, checked October 2, 2026).

If you are past your first year and weighing University Village against an apartment off campus, ask both for the same three things: the exact lease dates, what is furnished, and which utilities are in your name.

UNT: Denton, the shuttles and the A-train

In Denton, students, faculty and staff ride the UNT Campus Shuttles free by showing a UNT ID. DCTA runs 15 shuttle routes that serve the whole campus and many of the off-campus housing areas students use most (DCTA, University Routes, checked October 2, 2026).

When you look at an apartment off campus, ask which shuttle route stops nearest and walk from the stop to the door once before you sign.

The A-train is DCTA’s 21-mile commuter rail line. From the Downtown Denton Transit Center it stops at MedPark, Highland Village/Lewisville Lake, Old Town and Hebron, and ends at Trinity Mills station in Carrollton, where it meets the DART Green Line toward Dallas. Two stretches are free-fare zones: between the Downtown Denton Transit Center and MedPark, and between Hebron and Trinity Mills.

DCTA also sells a discounted University Pass to UNT, TWU and NCTC students who ride the A-train regularly. Old Town and Hebron stations are in Lewisville, so if your week is split between Denton and Dallas, the stops in between are worth a look.

Electricity works differently in Denton

In most of Dallas you choose the company that sells you electricity. In Denton, the electric utility is city-owned: Denton Municipal Electric, in operation since 1905. Texas law leaves city-owned utilities out of retail choice unless they opt in (Texas Utilities Code §39.102), so ask the leasing office how electricity is set up before you move. Our utilities guide covers the Dallas side.

Not the same school

Two names cause mix-ups. The University of North Texas at Dallas is a separate university in southern Dallas, on the I-20 corridor, with its own station on the DART Blue Line since 2016. Texas Woman’s University, founded in 1901, is also in Denton.

Tell us the campus by its full name, and the building or department if you know it. The answer changes which areas make sense for your commute.

Applying for an apartment as a student

When a Texas landlord gives you a rental application, it has to make its tenant selection criteria available, and you sign an acknowledgment that you saw them. The criteria can include criminal history, rental history, current income and credit history (Texas Property Code §92.3515).

Read them before you pay. The acknowledgment the law describes warns that if you do not meet the criteria, the application fee will not be refunded.

A refundable application deposit works differently. If the landlord has not accepted you by the seventh day after you turned in a completed application, the law treats you as rejected (§92.352). A landlord who in bad faith keeps money that should be refunded owes $100 plus three times the amount kept, and your attorney’s fees (§92.354).

Income, guarantors and roommates

Many students do not yet have the income a community asks for. Before you apply, ask whether a guarantor is accepted, what the guarantor has to show, and whether the guarantor signs the whole lease or a separate form.

With roommates, ask whether everyone signs one lease for the apartment or each person signs for a bedroom. The answer decides what happens if one roommate leaves early. Texas also limits how many adults a landlord may allow in a unit to three times the number of bedrooms (§92.010).

Your parents’ homeowners policy may cover your belongings while you live away at school, usually up to 10% of its personal property coverage, according to the Texas Department of Insurance. Our renters insurance guide explains when that is enough.

Questions for a community near campus

Student leases differ from one community to the next in ways a listing rarely shows. Ask these before you apply, and get the answers in writing:

• What are the exact start and end dates, and do they match the semester?
• Is the lease for the whole apartment or for one bedroom?
• What comes furnished, and what does it cost to remove it?
• Which utilities are included, and is there a monthly cap?
• Can you sublease for the summer, and what does the community charge for it?
• Does parking need a permit, and how much is it per year?

When to start looking

Work back from your first day of class. Choose the area first, from your schedule and from whether you will have a car, then tour, then apply once you know who you will live with.

Our guide on when to start your apartment search lays out the two months before a move, week by week. If you are coming from another state or country, tell us your arrival date and whether you will tour in person or by video.

Where you will spend your days is the first thing we ask. Give us the campus, your class times and how you plan to get there, and we start your list from the shuttle stop, the station or the drive. The search is free.