<p>
</p>
<p>Rule of thumb I’ve seen commonly used to differentiate between a college or university here in the US is to inquire whether the institution only offers bachelor degrees or a limited subset of MA/MS degrees in a heavily undergrad teaching centered institution(i.e. Oberlin College offering some MAs in the conservatory) or offers a comprehensive set of research-oriented graduate programs/degrees…especially professional/advanced graduate degrees.</p>
<p>On that score…Caltech definitely qualifies as a university…albeit one with some LAC characteristics like UChicago or Princeton.</p>