Depending upon the student’s program of study, upon graduation from a ‘community’ or ‘junior’ college, students can elect to enter the workforce or transfer their academic credits to a 4-year institution to obtain their bachelors degree. Depending upon what academic credits are ‘accepted’ by the 4-year institution, starting at a 2-year college and continuing at a 4-year college can prolong a student’s academic studies by a semester or more.

For example…. a ‘junior’ or ‘community’ college in the United States might offer a 2-year nursing program (LPN), which gives graduates the opportunity to enter into the field of nursing directly following graduation. However, the student might decide to transfer their academic credits to a 4-year college or university (typically in the same state) to continue their studies towards a bachelors. This would enable them to take the State Board Examinations to become a Registered Nurse (RN), which would result in a higher paying job. In such a case, the ‘junior’ or ‘community’ college would be similar to a Canadian career college.

Unlike Canada, in the U.S. the term ‘college’ can also refer to 4-year institutions that offer bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees. Good examples are Boston COLLEGE and Dartmouth COLLEGE, both of which could be considered on equal ground with Acadia University, McGill University, or the University of Toronto. Of course, just like how campuses differ in Canada from province to province, campuses differ in the U.S. from state to state. Given this, understanding the programs of study and knowing your end goal is critical.

The definition is flipped around and from an America student’s perspective, but further explanation can be found on the ABOUT CANADA page on the U.S. Students to Canda website (URL below). At the bottom of the FINDING YOUR SCHOOL page on the website, you’ll find a link to Canadian Colleges, which would be similar to U.S. ‘community’ and ‘junior’ colleges. I hope this helps.