In the UK we have universities and colleges, and universities are 'better'. College is often where people finish stuff they didn't do at school. What does the term college mean in the US? Here, people who went to college sometimes get looked down upon.

A College in the U.S. offers only as high as a Bachelor's degree. A university on the other hand offers Master's degrees and Ph.D's. There are however, so well known colleges that may offer higher degrees now, but couldn't change the name to university because there was already a university of the same name. One that comes to mind is Boston College, which is actually a very strong academic university, but there is already an Boston University. Additionally, a university is made of of "colleges". For example, you may have the College of Fine Arts, the College of Sciences, the College of Liberal Arts and Humanities, the College of Architecture...and so on. (Colleges are larger than departments, but part of the greater university.) Anyway, given all that, we often use the names interchangebly. We say "Oh, I'm going away to college, when I graduate." When more often than not, we really are going to a university.

College and University are used pretty interchangeably here. However, an institution would prefer to be called a university. In fact, most places try to include it in their name- i.e.- Purdue University I guess colleges are also looked down upon here- for example, schools funded partially by the local government are called 'community college' and not 'community university'

In Canada it is a money issue and stature. University is high class and college is lower class.I think just accomplishing something is great and as long as the kids are not sitting at home doing nothing I would be OK with it.

To most Americans, the term "college" refers to an institute of higher learning that offers a two-year (Associates or AS) degree. By contrast, a "university" is much larger, and offers higher-level degrees (Bachelor/BS, Master/MS, Doctorate/PhD/DSc). For example, a person can become a registered nurse at a college, but a doctor must attend a university (and the - usually accompanying - medical school).

Speaking for myself and my understanding, "college" and "university" mean the same thing. It is what you attend after you've graduated from high school. These days, however, what is looked upon with great favor is "Graduate" school..so while getting a Bachelor's Degree is very good, getting a Master's or Ph.d is even "gooder". But we don't look down upon anyone who has enough gumption to go beyond high school. Colleges/Universites are rated in many ways..so there is a certain "pecking" order of desirability..different colleges/universities are known for particular specialties! A University is the umbrella institution, under which different Colleges exist..the College of Law, the College of Library & Information Sciences, the College of Engineering! :)