Hey kids! Here’s a handy guide to higher education terminology

There are, according to one estimate, 1600 institutions of higher learning in the United States. Unlike other nations, many of America’s colleges and universities are privately run in addition to the government-supported schools. Since public schools often have tuitions far lower than their private counterparts, thus consequently impacting financial aid, the question of how to tell public and private schools apart is an important one. For that matter, what’s with the whole “college” versus “university” thing, anyway? It’s all easy, if you keep some simple principles in mind.

A college does not offer degrees beyond the BA/BS level.
Examples: Boston College, Dartmouth College, The College of William and Mary
A university¹ does offer degrees beyond the BA/BS level, including law, medicine, and MBA degrees.
Examples: Princeton University, Wesleyan University
An institute or a polytechnic offers vocational-technical degrees in fields like automobile or appliance repair. They may be public or private (see below).
Examples: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, California Polytechnic State University
A college or university named after a city is a public school operated by that city.
Examples: University of Chicago, New York University,² Boston College, Princeton University, University of San Diego, University of San Francisco, Seattle University
A college or university named after a state is a public school operated by that state.
Examples: University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Connecticut College, Colorado College
A college or university named after a person is a private institution.
Examples: Rutgers University, The College of William and Mary, Truman State University (MO), Thomas Edison State College (NJ), Medgar Evers College (NY), LaGuardia Community College (NY)

I hope this has been instructive and useful.

¹ Leland Stanford Junior University (CA) is currently attempting to meet US Department of Education guidelines for qualifying as a full university. This status is expected to be reached as of the 2016-2017 school year.

² New York University is operated by the City and the State of New York in tandem.

~~Plagiarized~~ Reblogged from /r/college/