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In the United States, a junior college (informally, a juco) is a two-year post-secondary school whose main purpose is to provide academic, vocational and professional education. The highest certificate offered by such schools is usually an associate's degree, although many junior college students continue their education at a university or college, transferring some or all of the credit earned at the junior college toward the degree requirements of the four-year school.

Junior colleges originated in the Chautauqua movement in late 19th century New York State. Around the turn of the century, groups from established colleges and universities would travel around the nation, visiting small towns that did not have access to upper-level schools, offering eight to ten-week courses on subjects such as the arts, science and literature.

The term junior college has historically referred to all non-bachelor's degree granting post-secondary schools, but over the last few decades many public junior colleges, which typically aim to serve a local community, have replaced "junior" with "community" in their names. This may give the impression that a junior college must be a private school, but only a small percentage of two-year institutions are private^[1], many public community colleges continue to be called "junior college", and the two terms are used interchangeably in casual speech.

Junior colleges have long had to contend with a reputation — deserved or not — for low academic standards (as evidenced by the pejorative "high school with ashtrays"). The concept can be traced back 100 years to the original public junior college, in Joliet, Illinois, which was set up in a high school as the equivalent of grades 13 and 14 in order to prepare qualified students for the final two years of university.^[2] To some extent this is inherent in the junior college mission of providing practical education to students who for various reasons fall outside the typical profile of a four-year college student (for example, someone who has graduated high school and spent several years working in a relatively unskilled job). Over the years, such colleges developed a reputation as the schools of last resort.^[3] According to federal statistics, 42% of public community college freshmen take remedial courses.^[4] However this does not necessarily affect their future transfer prospects: a junior college graduate with good grades can generally transfer to a four-year school and go on to obtain a full bachelor's degree; and there is a growing movement of students who are attending junior colleges to save significant sums of money in the first two years of a four year education.^[5]

Certain junior colleges also serve as incubators for college athletes, particularly in basketball and football; in sports parlance, they are often referred to as "Jucos".^[6] A talented player who would not meet the academic or athletic standards of a major college program may be able to play for two years in junior college, establishing an academic record in the process, and then transfer to the major college.^[6] This process has occasionally resulted in scandals, often involving the academics of the student athletes.^[6]

In the United States, a Military junior college is a military-style junior college that allows cadets to become commissioned officers in the armed forces reserve in two years, instead of the usual four. The students must still to go on to complete a bachelor's degree before serving as regular officers on active duty.

There are currently five Military junior colleges:

• Georgia Military College, Milledgeville, Georgia
• Marion Military Institute, Marion, Alabama
• New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, New Mexico
• Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne, Pennsylvania
• Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri

• Community college
• List of junior colleges in the United States

• Where Have All the Private 2-Year Colleges Gone?
• The Survival of Private Junior Colleges - US Federal Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges, Los Angeles, California.