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

First off, a community college is the kindergarten of higher learning, a regular college is the elementary school of higher learning, and, a university is the high school of higher learning, the highest you can go. Going to a university means you have an education with class and style.

A university is a type of college and college is just a general name.

Take Princeton University: college (the body of faculty and students of a college) college (an institution of higher education created to educate and grant degrees; often a part of a university) college (British slang for prison) college (a complex of buildings in which an institution of higher education is housed) University: university (the body of faculty and students at a university) university (establishment where a seat of higher learning is housed, including administrative and living quarters as well as facilities for research and teaching) university (a large and diverse institution of higher learning created to educate for life and for a profession and to grant degrees)

Instituitions that offer advanced degrees often have their official names designated as Universities through the accrediting organization for their region. The undergraduate school (that awards Bachelor's degrees) within the university may still be referred to as the College of Arts and Sciences, or something like that. And when you're referring to the place where you went to get your Bachelor's degree you refer to it as where you went to college.