The difference between the words college and university depend very much upon where you live. In many cases, in the US, a college refers to a four year advanced education only, and an institution which does not have the accreditation to offer more than a bachelor’s degree. College may also be restricted by its modifiers. For example, a technical college may offer Associate of Arts degrees or certification in certain fields only. A junior college or community college also offers a variety of A.A. degrees and certification programs.

Traditionally, the term college applied to a part of a university. Large universities may be split into colleges or departments that offer different degrees. In a sense, the university unified different colleges. 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 college oversee 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.

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.

As colleges like Harvard College grew, some changed the word "college" in their names to “university” to reflect that they now offered advanced degrees and numerous “colleges.” Some other colleges representing the oldest in the US, clung to the old name of college, even as they expanded and offered advanced degrees. Another term that may be synonymous with university or college is "institute," which also may have the power to grant advanced degrees. In the UK, the term college almost always means a section of a school offering a particular type of study that is part of a larger university.

The terms college and university may be synonymous, or may be used as a way of granting higher stature to an institute of higher learning. In California, there are three public degree-granting systems. The first includes the numerous state community or junior colleges. The next is the California State University System (CSU), and the last the University of California system (UC). At their inception, CSUs were called state colleges but in 1982 they were designated as universities. The UC system, on the other hand, grants doctorates and medical degrees, and is associated with more research and larger attendance. In this way, the UC system may be considered to be more of a university because it has more of the features of a university. Most students attempt to get into a UC over a state university because the UCs are considered truer universities.

Many institutions in the CSU system are excellent, and have wonderful education programs. Each CSU is broken into “schools” and offers a number of degrees. However, the UC system has higher stature, generally costs more, and is associated with more recognizable (i.e., published) professors. Even though a CSU is technically a university, it is sometimes called a college to distinguish it from the UC system.

In other countries, a college may not even be an institute of higher learning. In places like Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland, secondary schools may be called colleges. College in Canada tends to mean Junior College or certificate colleges that offer training in trades. In France, college normally means junior high or middle school. Thus definition of college will depend upon where one goes. It may be synonymous with university, a part of university, a junior college, high school, trade school or junior high. Where you live will determine just how much a college actually differs from a university.