Regional campuses are smaller, satellite campuses of larger, state universities. Community colleges, on the other hand, are not normally incorporated with a four-year university. Regional campuses and community colleges are ideal for students who work full time or have other life commitments that prevent them from going away to college because they do not normally provide on-campus housing.
Most community colleges primarily offer two-year associate's degree and certificate programs. At a community college, students can opt for the terminal associate's degree from the community college or transfer to a four-year institution to purse a bachelor's degree. Regional campuses, however, do not offer associate's degrees because they are designed to prepare students to transfer to a four-year bachelor's degree program at the institution with which they are partnered.
Course offerings at regional campuses are designed to prepare students for a four-year degree at the main campus, so the curriculum is modeled after or identical to the curriculum of first- and second-year students at the main campus. Course offerings at a community college may prepare students for a four-year degree, but they are not geared toward a particular institution's four-year degree program.
At regional campuses, all course credits are guaranteed to transfer to the main campus with which the regional school is partnered; however, course credits are not guaranteed to transfer to other institutions should the student change her mind about transferring to the main campus in favor of another institution. At community colleges, courses may be guaranteed to transfer to other four-year institutions if the community college is networked with other state schools. Many states sponsor networks between community colleges and four-year state institutions to encourage students to pursue the four-year degree; however, if the community college is not in a network with other institutions, then credits are not guaranteed to transfer, although they often do.