In American English, I've always heard Community College in academic conversations, but Junior College (or JUCO) in athletic conversations. Such as:
I went to community college before attending State University.
Cam Newton played for a junior college before joining the Auburn Tigers.
Is there a difference between the two types of schools? If there is no difference in the type of school, are there reasons why Junior College/JUCO is used primarily in sports contexts? any thought why I commonly hear JUCO only in a sports context, but community college in academic context?
Best Answer
They are just different terminology for essentially the same thing, which has evolved a little over time. "Junior Colleges" tend to be a private 2-year institutions, and "Community Colleges" tend to be public 2-year institutions, but that's not a hard and fast rule. You'll also see the terms "Technical College", "City College", "County College", depending on where you live.
Edited to add:
It looks like "Community College" is currently much more common that "Junior College" as a name. Per the US National Center for Education Statistics, there are only 17 institutions with "Junior" in their name, of which 10 are private. However, there are over 500 institutions with "Community" in their name.