Community college:

1. A four-year college grants bachelor's degrees (Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Science). Some colleges also award master's degrees, and some also offer a two year Associate of Arts (AA) degree. Colleges can be specialized (for example, in nursing) or they can offer a broad curriculum, like the liberal arts which focus on the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Classes tend to be smaller than those in universities. This provides students with more personal attention and better access to the faculty.

1.1. Universities:

1.1.1. A university grants bachelor's and master's degrees, and sometimes usually include a liberal arts college, some professional schools or colleges, and graduate programs such as a law school or medical school. Universities tend to be larger than colleges, focus more on scholarly or scientific research, and might have larger class sizes. This means they can offer the two year and four-year degrees as well as graduate degrees in advanced studies beyond four years. Universities offer a huge course selection and may have extensive resources. Class size varies, depending on the size of the university, the subject area, and the course level. University professors are usually involved in research. Graduate students, rather than professors, teach some of the classes. (These graduate students are called Teaching Assistants or TAs.)

2. Public:

3. Each US state administers its own system of higher education, known as public colleges or universities just as local governments and cities operate their own public K-12 school systems for local residents. These institutions receive most of their funding from the states they are located in. Private schools, on the other hand, do not receive the same primary funding from the state and federal government as public colleges, but often receive financial support from benefactors in the private sector.

4. Junior college:

5. Similar to a community college, except that a junior college is usually a private school.

6. Associates degree:

7. The Associate Degree is granted upon completion of a program of at least two, but less than four years of college work. Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees are conferred upon students who successfully complete programs designed for transfer to a senior college. The Associate Degree requires completion of a minimum of 60 credit hours, exclusive of physical education activity courses or military science courses, with a cumulative GPA of 2.0