What's the difference between "College" and "University"?

A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 139 points –

Until recently I assume they were synonymous šŸ˜…, Here you go to Uni immediatly after finishing HS.

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In the US thereā€™s really no set differentiation. Thereā€™s no rules that colleges have to be private or universities have to be public. Harvard is a college (undergrad) and a university, neither are funded by the state.

The general way it works is, universities are large, colleges are smallā€¦ however, thereā€™s even exceptions to that, if I remember right thereā€™s a university in Alaska that only enrolls like 300 people. A lot of colleges in my state are state funded because they are 2 year community colleges. A lot of our universities have 4 year liberal arts colleges at them.

As someone who lives in the US, that is not true. All universities are colleges, but not all colleges are universities. A community college is not a university.

But in the US, colloquially every 4 year school is a college. People say ā€œIā€™m going to college.ā€ People donā€™t say ā€œIā€™m going to university.ā€

I've never referred to my university as a college.

I attended a two year community college, which I always referred to as college, and a four year state university that I always referred to as university. Otherwise, I referred to them by their acronyms, or more loosely as school.

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