The University pioneered higher education between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean and was the first to have a graduate school in this vast region and the first to begin schools of philosophy, divinity, medicine, law and business. It was the first Catholic university in the entire nation to have any of these constituent schools and specialized faculties.

Today, Saint Louis University educates approximately 11,000 students on its three campuses and offers a broad array of undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.