DFA funds implement something called "security lending" in which they lend out shares to investors who want to short them and collect interest on the loan. This ends up offsetting much of the expense ratio. Larry Swedroe has written a piece about it, just google "DFA security lending swedroe". In general, you can expect anywhere from 0.25%-0.4% in offsetting interest income that goes directly to the investor thus making the expense ratio much more competitive. DFA also uses whats called "patient trading" in that they don't follow a specific index rather they make their own indexes and trade very rarely. This reduces transaction costs and taxation. Overall, I believe that DFA funds are roughly comparable to vanguard or other factor funds as far as costs. And, in the international side, it is very difficult to find cheap factor funds/ETFs so DFA is even more competitive there, IMO. Their track record speaks for itself. If you believe in the factor premiums there simply is no better fund family than DFA. Eugene Fama is even on their board so to me that is enough reason.
Now I found a specific advisor who charges a one-time flat fee for DFA access, so for a large enough portfolio you can get DFA access for very little cost and no ongoing management fee.