Roosevelt's founding in 1945 as an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational institution of higher learning was a feat requiring considerable courage. The new school had no campus, no library, and no endowment. But its founders had an ideal that enabled them to overcome great obstacles. They were determined to make higher education available to all students who could qualify academically. Considerations of social or economic class, racial or ethnic origin, sex, or age were, and remain, irrelevant in determining who is admitted. Originally named Thomas Jefferson College, the new school was soon renamed Roosevelt College in recognition of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt?s democratic ideals and values. Members of the early advisory board included Marian Anderson, Pearl Buck, Ralph Bunche, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Gunnar Myrdal, and Albert Schweitzer.

The Roosevelt experiment was a success from the start. Independent and unencumbered by tradition, Roosevelt was free to pioneer new educational programs and democratic decision making. Student representatives are voting members of the University Senate; and faculty, alumni, and student representatives serve on the Board of Trustees. While insisting that its students meet the same high standards of academic excellence that characterize any first-rate university, Roosevelt has kept its doors open to the residents of the inner city, to students who work full-time to support themselves, and to students who are the first members of their families to attend college. Current enrollment is more than 7,400 students, of whom about one third are pursuing graduate studies. A large percentage of Roosevelt students also work either full-time or part-time.

Roosevelt offers programs and services that place the needs of its students uppermost in its priorities. Class schedules are flexible. Courses are offered from early morning until late at night as well as on weekends, and class sizes are small. The Roosevelt faculty, numbering more than 500 full-time and part-time members, is accessible to students. An impressive number of the faculty publish books and articles, conduct important research, and perform in the world?s great concert halls. But first and foremost, Roosevelt professors are dedicated teachers who enjoy teaching and excel at it.

For many students, Roosevelt University's appeal is its focus on traditional academic disciplines, out of which innovative interdisciplinary programs have emerged. A Roosevelt education long has been characterized as being slightly ahead of the academic mainstream, and the University?s many new academic programs continue that tradition. The College of Arts and Sciences has developed new centers of excellence in the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences, and an honors program called the Roosevelt Scholars. Programs in the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration combine a solid liberal arts background with professional training in areas from accounting and financial services to international business. The College of Education has played a leadership role in the Chicago Educational Alliance, a consortium of nine university presidents and leaders from the Chicago Public Schools. The Chicago College of Performing Arts offers many rigorous performance programs in music and theatre along with studies in such areas as jazz studies, music education, and composition. The Evelyn T. Stone University College is a well-established college for adults who return to earn their degrees. Through a generous grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Roosevelt has undertaken an initiative in fully online education, called RU Online, offered through the Evelyn T. Stone University College.

Roosevelt is known as an outstanding metropolitan university for several reasons. Its main campus in downtown Chicago and its suburban campus in Schaumburg are near convenient modes of transportation, which make it easy for working students to attend classes. The University provides numerous public services for the greater metropolitan area from which it draws the bulk of its students.

Roosevelt also has a number of specialized areas of study including affiliations with other academic, health, theatrical, legal, and civic institutions. Exchange programs with international universities and schools provide a global dimension for both American and international students who come to study at the University. The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Center for Democratic Values comprises the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs, the St. Clair Drake Center for African and African-American Studies, the Center for New Deal Studies, and the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice—all of which promote research, discourse, and social action in the areas of social responsibility and social justice. In all of its richly varied educational and research programs, Roosevelt is inspired and guided by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt who dedicated the University "to the enlightenment of the human spirit".