What is the real difference between a college and a university ?

Answer 1

A college will typically offer two year and/or four year undergraduate degrees, and may offer a limited range of master's degrees. Specifically, community colleges generally offer two-year associates programs. You sometimes hear the term "four-year college" to refer to colleges that offer bachelor's degrees.

Colleges generally will not have Ph.D programs or professional schools (i.e., a business, medical or law school).


The range of programs and degrees offered will typically be broader at a university. Universities also offer four-year bachelor's degrees, But in addition, there will usually be a wide variety of Ph.D programs, and often (although not always) there are professional schools, offering master's and doctorate degrees.

Universities with a strong engineering focus are sometimes called "institute of technology".

Answer 2

A University is a school that is made up of several 'colleges' ... the College of Fine Arts, the College of Psychology, etc. A 'college' is a school that teaches only a limited amount of subjects. A 'community college' is usually a two year school but you should be able to 'transfer credits' to an appropriate college in a University at any time. I hope this 'helps' you ...

Answer 3

These days, very little. It used to be that a university was focused on research and graduate studies, while a college was more teaching-focused. However, that led to a sense that it was more prestigious to be a university than to be a college, and so many four-year "colleges" changed their names to "university". It is still true that most institutions which call themselves colleges are either 2- or 4-year educational enterprises, and there is no such thing as a 2-year university, but for the most part, the terms have become nearly indistiguishable.

Answer 4

I agree with the last post to this question...A college can be 4 years also...I graduated from an undergraduate college with a BS in Biology and later from another college with an MS in Biology too!!! I went to a University to attain an advanced degree to do higher research.

Answer 5

Very little.
It used to be that Universities were colleges that offered grad school, but that isn't necessarily true. Some of the best schools out there (Dartmouth, BC) are still colleges, and there are plenty of little/not so great universities.

Answer 6

The university I attended (University of Idaho) was made up off a lot of different colleges (ex: college of education, college of letters and sciences, college of engineering).

Answer 7

They're often used interchangeably. In the US, generally, colleges are those that don't offer grad degrees. Just bachelor or associate degrees while universities offer graduate degrees.

There are plenty of 4 yr schools that call themselves colleges.

Answer 8

college is 2 years and University is 4 years

Answer 9

College - You can only obtain a two year degree

University - Four year degree

People attend a college or university to continue their education after high school. This prepares them for work. It also provides them with a greater understanding of the world and its past. And it helps them value the arts and sciences.

Students usually attend a college for four years and gain a bachelor’s degree. Colleges generally do not support research or offer graduate degrees. Universities usually are much larger than colleges. Universities carry out research. And they offer several kinds of degrees in many areas of study.

Answer 10

university is made up of colleges.