Difference between community college and university?

Question

What is the difference between a community college, first 2 years in state schools, and first two years in university?

Answer 1

Community college are usually two year colleges depending on the student motivation. Generally, it will take a full time student to receive certification or their associates degree in two years.

A university consists of many colleges (specialized schools). Such as University of Nevada -Las Vegas has many colleges that pertain to education, hotel administration, business, dental....etc.

Answer 2

A community college is as stated above, a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Students choose to do a few years at their local community college because they either want to save money, earn some more credits for university in the future, or better their basic skills so they can be better prepared for a four year university in a few years. The majority of students transfer to a university after two years or so at a CC. It's much cheaper than a four year university since you pay by the class. Their is a campus but there are no dorms or housing or a meal plan. CC's are great if you are in financial troubles. You can still be getting a good education while you save up money for the future.

Answer 3

All of the things said above are true, but really if you're trying to make a specific decision, it depends on which community college and which university you're talking about.

If you want to save money, then community colleges are usually great ways to do so. But when people warn you that you Will encounter people who are really not equipped to be at college more often at a community college, it's usually no lie. I don't think the community college I graduated from even required SAT scores; if you could pay tuition, you could pretty much get in. I was in plenty of classes (oh man especially math classes - college algebra was the worst) with people who were taking the class for the 3rd or 4th time... and were proud of it >_<.

On the other hand, because the class sizes are smaller, community colleges may be just what you're looking for if you need special help or just want to feel like you have a better grip on the college. At a University, the freshman classes are very large most of the time because there are so many people taking them, and because many freshman will need the same basic classes. There really is no bonding between a professor who has at least 4 classes a day with more than 50 students in each class. At my community college, my teachers always knew my name, and because I strove to do well, I stuck out and was even more noticed. I was a person.

The size of a university can be an advantage too though. If you're one of those people who has obscure interests not found in your local community (like an anime club in my small town), you can fairly expect to go off to a university and probably find some people like yourself.

Really, it's just about finding what suits you. Just remember that it's more about which schools you're comparing than the general comparisons.

Answer 4

A community college only offers two-year programs, so at the end of them you get an associate's degree. In general, they are completely nonselective, so your classmates won't necessarily be very good, and your professors, at least in many areas, teach many classes (or are part-time people doing something else) but spend relatively little time learning about the subject matter, since they aren't researchers. They may be very good at teaching, though. Most people at community colleges live either at home with their families or in off-campus apartments, and there isn't much of a social life. People sometimes complain that it feels like a continuation of high school.

A "state school" IS, in fact, a university. There are actually two types of state universities - research universities and those that are focused more on teaching (although the faculty still do research, just not quite as much). In general, though, the types of classes you will be taking will be similar to those you would take at a community college or a private university, since everyone has a couple of years of general education classes. Public four-year universities are more expensive than community colleges, but less expensive than private schools. The faculty generally all have Ph.Ds, and are engaged in research as part of their jobs, in addition to teaching. At the "research schools", some faculty may do relatively little teaching, while even at the teaching schools, they do less teaching than the full-time faculty at community colleges, because they spend some of their time on research. Depending on the location, there may be a lot of commuter students, or most people may live on campus.

Private universities are the most expensive. In a lot of ways, they are very much like state schools, but they are not funded by the state and don't have to answer to the taxpayers for their needs. Since they are expensive, they have to make sure they offer students enough amenities to make up the difference, so they are less likely to let teaching assistants teach their classes, they are more likely to have nicer facilities, etc. More of the students at private schools usually live on campus. These days the lines are really blurring between public and private universities, in that the taxpayers are covering less of the needs of the public schools, so they are going after donors and raising tuition too.

Answer 5

Community colleges have the same general education classes and requirements as state colleges and universities. They generally don't offer as much of a variety of courses as a larger more expensive school would, but up to a bachelor's or certification, it is the exact same curriculum. If you are considering a community college for the first couple of years, then transferring, talk to a counselor about which courses are eligible. Some of the more obscure courses are not transferrable credits at major colleges and universities.

Answer 6

Community college ususaully hands out Associates Degrees, which will probably transfer unless the school has higher standards.

State schools are public schools, and therefore tend to be cheaper, and have certain requirements created by teh education dep. of the state.

University tends to be more expensive, and may have more unique general requirements, or may have special programs for certain majors that began in the first two years. But, for the most part, they tend to be more expensive versions of the same general program everyone else will take.

I agree with one of the posters above though. If you're looking for classes that are still challenging, and small classes, try to see if you can take it honors.

Answer 7

Community college is cheaper and more convenent for working people, but they tend to let most anyone in so you need to get into the honor classes to avoid the retards, then you can finish at a 4 years school and get a good job and become part of the machine.