The phrase "everything is bigger in Texas" rings true even for higher education within the state. Given the sheer size of Texas, it is no surprise that there are many different colleges and universities within the state. While most states just have one or two public university systems, Texas has six public university systems as well as two additional independent public universities. In addition to the public universities, there are more than 50 community colleges, one technical college system with four campuses, eight private liberal arts schools and just more than 40 private universities.
The University of Houston System is a unique public university system, because while it has four campuses that all in some way don the name University of Houston, each university is an independent institution. The four different universities in this system all confer their own degree programs and stand alone as their own entity. The flagship campus is the University of Houston, which was founded in 1927 and has an enrollment of just under 40,000 students. It is a public research university.
The University of North Texas System is a smaller university system in Texas, and it has two locations. The University of North Texas, located in Denton, is another large public research university in the state. The University of North Texas was founded in 1890, and is the flagship university for this system. The other university in this system is the University of North Texas at Dallas.
Another prominent public university system in Texas is the University of Texas System, which has 9 universities in it. The flagship school is the University of Texas at Arlington, which was founded in 1895 and now boasts an enrollment of more than 33,000 students. Other campuses are located in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio, Tyler, Permian Basin and Pan American.
The Texas A&M University system has 12 campuses in it, including Texas A&M University, a massive school founded in 1875. With an enrollment of about 50,000 students, it is the largest university in Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M System.
The Texas State University System has four public universities within it, and the Texas Tech University System has three public universities within the organization. Each system in the state of Texas has at least one school with more than 30,000 students enrolled, confirming the phrase that truly, everything is bigger in Texas.