Officials at Texas Wesleyan had been talking to the University of North Texas and Texas Christian University about selling the downtown law school, which it has owned since 1992. The asking price was thought to be between $31 million and $35 million, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

But at a board meeting last week, Texas Wesleyan trustees voted to stop talking to other universities about a possible sale.

"Our attention, as a board and university community, will now focus on making the school of law an even greater asset within the community," said Harold Jeffcoat, Texas Wesleyan president.

In March, Texas Wesleyan named Frederick Slabach the new dean of the law school. On June 1, Slabach will replace Richard Gershon, who resigned.

Slabach will inherit a law school with about 660 students. It has had full accreditation from the American Bar Association since 1999. During the past five years, applications to the law school have jumped 58 percent, median LSAT scores have risen from 149 to 151, and median undergraduate grade-point averages have jumped from 2.95 to 3.04 on a 4.0 scale, according to Texas Wesleyan 

It costs $18,320 annually to attend the law school, which is the only one in North Texas to offer night classes.

UNT officials have said they will continue to pursue the creation of the region's first public law school, which would cost students about $7,200 a year.

"We believe there is significant support in the region to expand the legal education," said Lee Jackson, chancellor of the UNT System.