The junior college's first student enrollment was reported at 325, all graduates from Monmouth County high schools, with a faculty of 12 instructors.

Federal reemployment funds financed the junior college, with approximately $18,000 approved by New Jersey Director of Emergency Relief John Colt.

[5] In 1947, the school received full college accreditation from the New Jersey Board of Education to award associate degrees to students.

Support from students and the community is credited with helping the school continue to teach classes and become a privately funded institution.

[5] A year later, the school was renamed Monmouth College when it was accredited by the state to offer four-year programs that would award bachelor degrees to students.

[9] Elmwood and Pinewood, Monmouth's first campus residence halls, opened in 1963, while the William T. Boylan Gymnasium was built in 1965 as a new home for the basketball team.

Amid the campus expansion, Monmouth College received authorization from the state to offer graduate programs and award master degrees in 1967.

The university status was obtained under the leadership of Rebecca Stafford, the school's first female president, who described Monmouth as being "on the move".

By the end of the decade, the Multipurpose Activity Center replaced the William T. Boylan Gymnasium as the home of the men's and women's basketball teams in 2009.

The new facility, which cost $57 million, was described by then-Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeff Stapleton as "probably the biggest undertaking that the institution has done".

After the original Shadow Lawn was destroyed by a fire in 1927, the current building that would become was built as a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Templeton Parson.

[16][17] Shadow Lawn became municipal property during the Great Depression and until Monmouth acquired ownership, it was home to Highland Manor Junior College, a private girls' school.

The original structure of the Beaux-Arts mansion, designed by Carrère and Hastings is now the Murry and Leonie Guggenheim wing of the Monmouth University Library.

[24][25] By 2018, Monmouth ranked at 28 among northern regional universities, its highest spot at the time from U.S. News & World Report.

Despite moving up in the U.S. News & World Report ranking, however, Monmouth University did not appear on Forbes's List of America's Best Colleges until 2021.

In response to Forbes allegedly lowering a school's ranking for providing financial support, Blackmon commented that, "We are actually quite proud that we can assist so many students in getting an education", and concluded, "Even though Monmouth failed to make the Forbes list, I think that it doesn't reflect the quality of its teachers and the type of school that Monmouth is.

[30] Monmouth University has a variety of on-campus clubs and organizations, including the campus television station HawkTV; the college radio station WMCX-FM, one of the last media outlets to interview Bob Marley and the first media outlet in America to announce his death;[31][32][33][34] and the student-run newspaper The Outlook, which has been published since 1933.

It maintains multiple galleries for exhibiting creative works of students, faculty, and staff, as well as practicing artists and designers.

Blue Hawk Records allows students to work together, alongside experienced industry professionals, to build their skills in talent scouting, artist promotion and development, live music and record releases, artwork, packaging, sales, marketing, further learning the structure of business and how to mold artists into marketable material.

[39] It houses a 4,100 seat competition arena; a 200-meter; six-lane indoor track; locker rooms; educational and conference space; ground-level bookstore; and fitness center.