Tarleton State University in 2 Days: A Stephenville, Texas College Visit Fly-In Trip
A parent-first plan for visiting Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas: how Tarleton's weekday campus tours work and where to sign up, Welcome Center parking and the free virtual visitor permit, three Stephenville hotels from budget to mid-range, drive times from DFW, Dallas Love Field and Waco, sibling stops at Dinosaur Valley State Park and Tarleton's W.K. Gordon Museum, and Stephenville weather by season, every fact sourced and checked Oct 30, 2026.
The Administration Building at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas (August 2017). Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Last checked Oct 30, 2026. Every fact comes from the pages listed in Sources at the bottom. Some hotel and tour links are affiliate links (disclosure).
The short version
Trip at a glance
School
Tarleton State University (Stephenville, TX)
Days
2 days: fly in and drive to Stephenville, then a Tarleton campus tour the next weekday.
Fly into
Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), about 2 hr 1 min from Stephenville with no traffic. Dallas Love Field (DAL) is about 2 hr 12 min, and Waco Regional (ACT) about 1 hr 49 min.
Best base
La Quinta Inn & Suites Stephenville, about a 5-minute drive to the Welcome Center.
Car or no car
Rent a car. Every airport is close to two hours away.
Registration
Sign up online for a weekday campus tour, or check Tarleton's Campus Preview Events page.
1. Who this guide is for
This plan is for parents bringing a high schooler, and maybe younger siblings, to see Tarleton State University, home of the Texans in Stephenville.
Tarleton's guided walking tours cover academic colleges and programs, student support, state-of-the-art facilities and long-standing traditions. The photo in this guide shows the Administration Building on the Stephenville campus.
Why this order
Day 1: fly in, drive to Stephenville and check in, about 2 hr 1 min from DFW, 2 hr 12 min from Dallas Love Field or 1 hr 49 min from Waco with no traffic.
Day 2: take Tarleton's guided walking tour from the Welcome Center. It runs about 2 hours and includes a stop at a housing showroom.
With extra time, Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose is about 41 minutes from the Welcome Center by car, and Tarleton's W.K. Gordon Museum in Thurber is about half an hour north.
Plan ahead: registration and timing
Guided walking tours of the Stephenville campus run Monday through Friday. Pick an open time on Tarleton's registration site and sign up there.
Tours last about 2 hours and cover academic colleges and programs, student support, state-of-the-art facilities and Tarleton traditions, plus a visit to a housing showroom. Wear comfortable shoes and arrive 10 minutes early.
Interested in engineering or agriculture? Tarleton also offers separate Mayfield College of Engineering tours and Agriculture Center tours, with their own sign-ups on the Campus Tours page.
Tarleton also hosts Campus Preview events for prospective students, such as a Senior Hall Crawl for high school seniors. Check the Campus Preview Events page for upcoming dates.
In bad weather, call the Welcome Center at 254-968-9845 before your visit.
Tour availability varies by season.
Summer is hot: August averages about 98°F highs and 70°F lows at the Stephenville station.
Winter is cool: January averages about 59°F highs and 31°F lows, with less than an inch of snow on average.
May is the wettest month, with about 5 inches of rain, so pack an umbrella for a spring visit.
Check the Texans schedule before you book, since home games bring extra traffic to campus.
2. The suggested 2-day plan
Drive and walk times are no-traffic estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, with addresses geocoded by OpenStreetMap Nominatim. Campus times are to the Welcome Center at 1205 W. Washington St., where campus tours meet.
Day 1: fly in and drive to Stephenville
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) → La Quinta Inn & Suites Stephenville
Driving (no traffic)
~2 hr 1 min, 98.6 mi
Driving
Rental car
Dallas Love Field (DAL) → La Quinta Inn & Suites Stephenville
Driving (no traffic)
~2 hr 12 min, 107.9 mi
Driving
Rental car
Waco Regional Airport (ACT) → La Quinta Inn & Suites Stephenville
Driving (no traffic)
~1 hr 49 min, 88.4 mi
Driving
Rental car
La Quinta and the Best Western Plus sit near each other on the west side of town, about 4 to 5 minutes from the Welcome Center by car. The Hampton Inn is on South Harbin Drive, about 3 minutes away.
Day 2: Tarleton State University campus visit
La Quinta Inn & Suites Stephenville → Tarleton Welcome Center
Driving (no traffic)
~5 min, 2.1 mi
Driving
Drive
Hampton Inn & Suites Stephenville → Tarleton Welcome Center
Driving (no traffic)
~3 min, 1.4 mi
Driving
Drive or ~25-min walk
Best Western Plus Stephenville Inn → Tarleton Welcome Center
Driving (no traffic)
~4 min, 1.9 mi
Driving
Drive
Tarleton Welcome Center → Dinosaur Valley State Park (optional)
Driving (no traffic)
~41 min, 33.4 mi
Driving
Drive
Tarleton Welcome Center → Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
Driving (no traffic)
~2 hr, 96.4 mi
Driving
Drive
Tarleton Welcome Center → Dallas Love Field (DAL)
Driving (no traffic)
~2 hr 10 min, 105.4 mi
Driving
Drive
Park in the Welcome Center lot, in the spaces marked "Welcome Center Parking Only." Visitor spaces are in the same lot.
Parking anywhere else on campus? Tarleton requires every visitor to fill out its free online Virtual Visitor Permit before parking, each visit.
3. Campus by campus
The Administration Building at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas (August 2017). Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Campus tours meet at the Welcome Center, 1205 W. Washington St., Stephenville, and last about 2 hours.
Tour topics include academic colleges and programs, student support and success, state-of-the-art facilities and long-standing Tarleton traditions, with a visit to a housing showroom.
Visitor parking
Welcome Center parking is in the spaces marked "Welcome Center Parking Only," with visitor spaces in the same lot.
All visitors need a visitor permit to park on campus. The permit is virtual: fill out the Virtual Visitor Permit form online before you park, each time you visit.
Questions? Parking Services is at 254-968-9002, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Getting there
The Welcome Center is about 2 hr by car from DFW, 2 hr 10 min from Dallas Love Field and 1 hr 46 min from Waco Regional with no traffic.
What to know
Tarleton's W.K. Gordon Museum and Research Center sits at the site of the Thurber ghost town, about half an hour north of Stephenville, with exhibits on the coal-mining company town that once stood there. It's open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.; admission is $5 for adults (12 and up), $2.50 for children 5 to 12, and free for children 5 and under.
Can't make the trip yet? Tarleton lists virtual options on its visit page, including an out-of-state information session and the school's episode of The College Tour.
Contact
Tarleton Welcome Center: 254-968-9845. Undergraduate Admissions: admissions@tarleton.edu. Main campus: 1333 W. Washington, Stephenville, TX.
Last checked Oct 30, 2026. Tour and admissions details change often, so confirm them on the school's official visit page before you go.
Price tiers (Budget, Mid-range, Upscale) follow each hotel's star class on Expedia. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Hotel · Our pickMid-range
La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Stephenville
105 Christy Plaza, Stephenville, TX 76401
Why here
It's about a 5-minute drive to the Welcome Center with no traffic.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 3-star property, the highest class in Stephenville, so we place it in the Mid-range tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Good to know
Expedia lists a free buffet breakfast, a fitness room, free self-parking, free cribs on request and pets for a fee. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 2.5-star property, so we place it in the Budget tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
It's the closest of the three, about a 3-minute drive to the Welcome Center with no traffic, and Expedia puts it about a 15-minute walk from Tarleton.
Good to know
Expedia lists a free continental breakfast, an indoor pool, a fitness room, free self-parking, pets for a fee and a minimum check-in age of 18. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 2.5-star property, so we place it in the Budget tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
It's about a 4-minute drive to the Welcome Center with no traffic.
Good to know
Expedia lists a free buffet breakfast, an outdoor pool, free self-parking, no pets (service animals welcome) and a minimum check-in age of 18. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
All three hotels are within about 5 minutes of the Welcome Center by car. Stephenville has no 4-star hotel on Expedia, so these run from budget to mid-range.
5. Meals between tours
Hours change, so check before you go.
At the hotels
All three hotels include breakfast: a buffet at La Quinta and the Best Western Plus, and a continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn.
6. Things for siblings along the route
With siblings
Dinosaur Valley State Park
1629 Park Rd. 59, Glen Rose, TX
Walk in real dinosaur tracks in the bed of the Paluxy River (they are not always visible), with 20 miles of trails and an interpretive center. Day use is $8 for adults and free for children 12 and under. The park often reaches capacity, so Texas Parks and Wildlife recommends reserving a day pass, and it closes for permitted hunts Dec. 6-10 and Jan. 10-14. It's about 41 minutes from the Welcome Center.
Tarleton's museum of Texas industrial history at the Thurber ghost town, about half an hour north of Stephenville, with historic photos, artifacts and film of the company town. Children 5 and under get in free, and children 5 to 12 pay $2.50. Closed Mondays.
Head for the Welcome Center lot at 1205 W. Washington St., and fill out the Virtual Visitor Permit if you'll park anywhere else on campus.
Flying in and out
DFW is about 2 hr from campus, Dallas Love Field about 2 hr 10 min and Waco Regional about 1 hr 46 min with no traffic, so leave plenty of time after your 2-hour tour for the drive back.
Weather by season (1991–2020 NOAA normals: Stephenville station)
Spring: April averages about 79°F highs and 50°F lows, with about 2.9 inches of rain; May warms to about 86°F/60°F and is the wettest month, at about 5 inches.
Summer: July averages about 97°F/71°F, with about 2 inches of rain.
Fall: October averages about 81°F/52°F, and November cools to about 69°F/41°F.
Winter: January averages about 59°F/31°F, with about 1.8 inches of rain and less than half an inch of snow.
Parent checklist
Register for a weekday campus tour on Tarleton's registration site, or check the Campus Preview Events page.
If your student is interested in engineering or agriculture, add a Mayfield College of Engineering or Agriculture Center tour.
Book flights into DFW, Dallas Love Field or Waco and plan a rental car.
Book a Stephenville hotel.
Save the Welcome Center (1205 W. Washington St.) in your map app.
After each visit, take five minutes to jot down what stood out to your student.
8. Student-athlete recruiting visits
For families whose student hopes to play a college sport. Rules below are the NCAA's; each school's links were checked Oct 26, 2026.
Coaches arrange the recruiting part of a visit, not the admissions office. The tour sign-ups in this guide are for the regular family visit. An official (school-paid) visit is offered by the school, and contact with coaches follows NCAA rules that vary by division, sport and grade level.
Start with your sport's questionnaire, then email the coaches. The NCAA suggests emailing coaches with your achievements, highlight videos and interest in their program, including your name, position, NCAA ID and graduation year.
1 Division I
Athletics
Tarleton State University
NCAA Division I United Athletic Conference
RecruitingWe found no department-wide recruiting page. Look for a questionnaire on your sport's team page at the athletics site ↗, or email the coaches.
Unofficial visit: any campus visit you or your family pay for. You can take as many as you like; in Divisions I and II each one has to come after the first permissible date for your sport.
Official visit: a visit paid for by the school. Each school can offer your student only one. Before a Division I official visit, your student must be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center, be on the school's institutional request list, and the school must have their high school transcripts.
Division I (Tarleton State University): on an official visit the school can pay for travel for the student and up to two family members, lodging, up to three meals a day for the student and up to four family members, and up to $60 a person in entertainment, including five home-game tickets. On an unofficial visit there are no free meals, but the school can give up to three home-game tickets. Division I uses recruiting calendars with contact, evaluation, quiet and dead periods; in a dead period, no in-person contact and no visits.
Rules change. Confirm with the coach, or check the NCAA's recruiting page and recruiting calendars, before you plan dates.
Planning around the season
Check each school's athletics schedule (linked above) before you pick dates, so a coach meeting doesn't land on a road trip or game day for your sport.
Our recommendation, not a school rule: ask the coach whether they can line up an admissions session or tour around your meeting. If not, book the regular family tour yourself through the official sign-up links in this guide, and leave time between the two.
Add your dates and how you're getting there, and we'll pull this guide into one plan: tour sign-up links, the hotel base, parking or airport notes, the route and meals.
Coming soon
Planning more college trips?
Visit-season reminders and new trip guides from College Visit Guides. Newsletter coming soon.
Sources
All checked Oct 30, 2026. Tour schedules change constantly, so always confirm on each school's official sign-up page. Photo credits are under each photo and on our About page.
Expedia listing: La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Stephenville (star class, amenities and address, checked 2026-10-30 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Granbury-Hotels-La-Quinta-Inn-Suites-By-Wyndham-Stephenville.h1658973.Hotel-Information)
Expedia listing: Hampton Inn & Suites Stephenville (star class, amenities and address, checked 2026-10-30 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Granbury-Hotels-Hampton-Inn-Suites-Stephenville.h1587124.Hotel-Information)
Expedia listing: Best Western Plus Stephenville Inn (star class, amenities and address, checked 2026-10-30 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Granbury-Hotels-Best-Western-Plus-Stephenville-Inn.h57861049.Hotel-Information)
