It really depends on where the speaker is from. In some parts of Canada they use the two interchangeably. However, from where I'm from (Texas), Universities are colleges where obtaining a 4 year degree is possible like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. Colleges are just any form of higher education which can include technical schools, community college, or a full out University.

In the UK, a college usually means a place where students over the age of 16 are trained in a particular subject or skill, earning a qualification that is not usually an academic degree. People studying for an academic degree go to a university. In the US, a college is a place where students can earn a bachelor's degree (=first degree), and a university offers both bachelor's degrees and advanced degrees.

The words are used interchangeably, but technically a multi-disciplinary university is composed of many colleges, each college dedicated to its own field, e.g. the college of law, the college of medicine.

The difference, if any, depends on where you are: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_college_and_a_university I live in California where the terms are often interchangeable. "I went to college" means that you attended an institution of higher learning after high school. To be more specific, you might say you attended a two-year college or a four-year college. In California, "university" is often associated with large state-run institutions, such as the California State University system and the University of California system where advanced degrees such as a master's or a doctoral degree may be earned. If someone tells me they attended a university and I'm not familiar with the name, I'll often ask what his or her major was and what degree they have. Some people say "university" instead of "college" because "university" sounds more prestigious, and I suspect some private schools include "university" in their names for the same reason.