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Off-Campus Housing Near Tarleton
About Off-Campus Housing Near Tarleton State University
Tarleton State University anchors Stephenville, a small Texas town in the rolling ranch country southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, with about 14,000 students on the Stephenville campus. This is real ag-country territory: dairy farms, rodeo culture, and wide-open land, and the school leans into it, with rodeo and stock shows part of the identity and Texan pride running deep. The town is compact and friendly, built around a courthouse-square downtown where the public square gives you somewhere to land between classes. Memorial Stadium fills up on football nights, and Homecoming brings the campus together. Bosque River park land and nearby lakes give you the outdoor escape. Because Stephenville is small, student life happens close to campus, and most people get around by car.
Tarleton State University Housing Requirements
Freshman Live-On Requirement
Tarleton requires first-time-in-college freshmen to live on campus for their first academic year unless they get an approved off-campus exemption. The rule covers the full freshman year. Most students move off campus after that.
Off-Campus Eligibility
The main exemptions cover students living in a family member's primary residence within 45 miles of the Stephenville campus, students living with an enrolled sibling within that radius, part-time students taking eight credit hours or fewer, transfer students with prior credit, and documented financial hardship. You need proof of residency established months ahead, so apply early. The rental process is standard Texas, with an application, deposit, credit or income check, and often a parental guarantor.
Lease Timing
Stephenville is small, so off-campus supply is genuinely scarce and competitive. Watch the lease term, since many student complexes lease by the bed on a 12-month basis and you pay through summer. Houses lease by the unit, so roommates share one lease and joint liability, so lock a group early and read the subletting clause before everyone signs.