Freed-Hardeman is primarily an undergraduate, residential institution enrolling full-time students who come from more than two-thirds of the United States and from several other countries. Alumni live in all fifty states and in more than thirty-five other countries. The university also seeks to serve commuting, part-time, and older adult students on-campus and through selected distant learning programs as resources and technology permit.

The goals of the university can best be pursued when qualified Christian faculty teach and inspire students to learn and when all instruction and activities recognize and honor biblical truth and principles.  The university is governed by a self-perpetuating board of trustees who are members of churches of Christ and who hold the institution in trust for its founders, alumni, and supporters. Freed-Hardeman, its faculty, and its students receive support from alumni, churches, and other friends and provide a variety of services to businesses, churches, nonprofit organizations, and to the general public.

Freed-Hardeman seeks to provide a liberal arts education for all students primarily through its general education and general degree requirements. Courses are offered by twelve academic departments organized into six schools—Arts and Humanities, Biblical Studies, Business, Education, Sciences and Mathematics, and the Honors College.