What’s in a Name? An Enrollment Increase, When a College Becomes a University

[LevelUP]

What’s in a Name? An Enrollment Increase, When a College Becomes a University
https://www.chronicle.com/article/whats-...university

Do you prefer college or university?  Does it matter?

[Holmes]

Fun fact: in many countries, all higher education institutes are universities and all the first level divisions/departments are colleges. So, you will have Macaroni's University (for example), and many colleges inside (Engineering College, Medecine College, ... etc).

[jsd]

Lots of universities do that within the US as well, but it's not standardized.

[Vle045]

I remember back in my college years (early 90’s) being told universities have graduate degrees, colleges don’t. That seemed true because that truly did reflect the differences within the area. Each of the colleges eventually changed their names to university once they added graduate programs. Since then, I have seen otherwise…. So now I am confused again. LOL

[Alpha]

I remember back in my college years (early 90’s) being told universities have graduate degrees, colleges don’t.  That seemed true because that truly did reflect the differences within the area.   Each of the colleges eventually changed their names to university once they added graduate programs.  Since then, I have seen otherwise…. So now I am confused again. LOL

My favorite example is Boston College.  They have a number of grad programs, including doctoral degrees
https://www.bc.edu/
Of course, they couldn't change their name, even if they wanted to, because there's already a Boston University
https://www.bu.edu/

[SteveFoerster]

I remember back in my college years (early 90’s) being told universities have graduate degrees, colleges don’t.  That seemed true because that truly did reflect the differences within the area.   Each of the colleges eventually changed their names to university once they added graduate programs.  Since then, I have seen otherwise…. So now I am confused again. LOL

Alpha pointed out the most prominent exception, and there are a few others, but what you describe is close enough to serve as a rule of thumb for the U.S.

[Stanislav]

I remember back in my college years (early 90’s) being told universities have graduate degrees, colleges don’t.  That seemed true because that truly did reflect the differences within the area.   Each of the colleges eventually changed their names to university once they added graduate programs.  Since then, I have seen otherwise…. So now I am confused again. LOL

My favorite example is Boston College.  They have a number of grad programs, including doctoral degrees
https://www.bc.edu/
Of course, they couldn't change their name, even if they wanted to, because there's already a Boston University
https://www.bu.edu/

Dartmouth College has graduate programs. It is also in the Ivy League. I have a feeling that one would be the last to change its name...

[MrPanda]

I remember back in my college years (early 90’s) being told universities have graduate degrees, colleges don’t.  That seemed true because that truly did reflect the differences within the area.   Each of the colleges eventually changed their names to university once they added graduate programs.  Since then, I have seen otherwise…. So now I am confused again. LOL

Or Colleges offering MBAs:

I remember seeing Wayne State College offering their MBA, maybe 13 years ago:

https://www.wsc.edu/mba

[smartdegree]

In Canada (where I live) and many Commonwealth countries, "college" means community/technical college.  It is common to ask kids if they would like to  attend a college or university as those would lead to different careers.  A local saying "I go to college" means they are pursuing some type of technical diploma or certificate whereas "I go to university" means they are pursuing a bachelors degree. 

In the US,  college vs university is interchangeable.  It's also common to just say "I go to college" and it means the same thing as going to university.

100% sure that the average Canadian will think Dartmouth "College" and the  "College" of William and Mary are technical or prep schools.  I remember a post in another board where a Canadian complained that his William and Mary "College" degree is taken less seriously in the job market than the local community colleges like Seneca.  It sounded very accurate to me.  LOL

[Jonathan Whatley]

I remember a post in another board where a Canadian complained that his William and Mary "College" degree is taken less seriously in the job market than the local community colleges like Seneca.  It sounded very accurate to me.  LOL

Canadian community colleges have also been moving away from "College!" Some in Ontario got their legal names changed from "College" to "Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning." Many now do a lot of branding under their unmodified name. Canadians will see a billboard or TV ad for "Seneca," "Humber," etc., and be assumed to know it's a college, or at least figure out it's a higher education institution. You know their administrators are dreaming of University status.

I wonder how many institutions have ever gone from University to College. Ashworth College est. 2000 becames Ashworth University sometime later in the 2000s or 10s but then became Ashworth College again (DEAC, same owners as Penn Foster, and later they retired their master's degrees).

Lind University in Illinois est. 1857 became Lake Forest University, then evolved to focus on undergraduate liberal arts and became Lake Forest College in 1965.