what's the difference between a college and a university?

Answer 1

The difference isn't straightforward. Traditionally, a university has been a research institution offering graduate programs, while a college was something more teaching-focused, generally primarily 4-year or less. However, there is another use of the word "college", which is that individual subject-matter groupings within a university (what in Canada would be called a "faculty") were called a College - as in the College of Engineering, or the College of Fine Arts at XXX University. The liberal arts school at Harvard University is called Harvard College.

Okay, that's a start. Then, in addition to that, because schools with a research focus and graduate programs often had more prestige, a lot of schools which used to be called "colleges" wanted to be called "universities". I've run into a lot of schools which make no pretensions of being research-oriented and don't have graduate programs, and which have said that they are trying to become a university, by which they seem to mean that they want more respect. Then you have online schools like the University of Phoenix, which certainly doesn't involve research, and whose only graduate programs are really professional schools without any research training, who call themselves universities for the prestige. It is not surprising that you are confused!

Answer 2

Traditionally the term college applied to a part of a university. Large universities may be split into colleges or departments that offer different degrees. The University of California, Berkeley, for instance, has colleges of music, science, law and liberal arts, to name a few. Deans or heads of the university oversees each college, but the ability to grant degrees is through the overhead university. Most large universities also offer advanced degrees like PhDs and Master’s degrees. A four-year college, not attached to a university may only offer bachelor’s degrees.

Also, Universities often have higher tuition than a college. The reason that college was first used in the US is because institutions established for higher education were very small ones. They didn’t approach the grandeur of European, and particularly English universities like Oxford. Men, and at first only men, could attend some of the early colleges like Harvard College, but could not get advanced doctorate degrees unless they studied abroad.

Yes, I said Harvard College. Harvard College is a part of Harvard University. The college offers only undergraduate programs while the university offers undergrad, grad and doctoral programs.

Answer 3

Same thing on a different scale. Colleges tend to be smaller and not have graduate programs. Universities often include several colleges - for instance, one university will have a college of nursing, a college of engineering, and a college of arts and sciences. The degrees from colleges and universities are worth exactly the same.

Answer 4

Universities contain various graduate schools specific to certain career pathways, meaning they feature both a college and graduate schools. Colleges are obviously have a smaller populous and wont offer anything above a Ba Degree.

If you attend a college that is not apart of a university for four years, then you will have to transfer to a university or graduate school to recieve a masters or doctoral degree.

Answer 5

I believe it has something to do with the accreditation process. In the long run, in the United States, it really doesn't matter. A BA from a college is worth the same as a BA from a university.

Answer 6

generally college is smaller in population and the amount of class/majors they have. In a university, much larger population, more classes and majors to choose from

Answer 7

I thought that colleges were normally two years and universities were four... but I'm not sure.