Adelphi awards bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, University College, Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, and Schools of Business Administration, Banking, Education, Nursing, and Social Work. Joint programs with other institutions allow students to pursue engineering, optometry, and dentistry. About 70 percent of Adelphi's full-time faculty hold doctorates. The university also employs numerous part-time instructors. The academic calendar is divided into semesters.

Enrollment consists of approximately 8,200 students, with the numbers of graduate students and undergraduates being relatively equal. Women outnumber men. About a third of the undergraduates are over the age of 25, and many attend part-time. Most students commute to class. The campus contains housing for interested students, with freshmen given priority if all who seek college housing cannot be accommodated. Extracurricular activities at Adelphi include publications, musical and theatrical groups, community service organizations, fraternities and sororities, a campus radio station, and intramural sports. Varsity sports teams, nicknamed the Panthers, compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (except the men's soccer and women's softball teams, which participate in Division I). School colors are brown and gold.