Differences between high school education & college education

A typical course load in high school includes more than 30 hours of classroom instruction, but 12 to 15 hours is considered a full load in college. The reason for this is that college courses typically require two to three hours of preparation for each hour spent in the classroom. Students are expected to come to class having already studied the material, so that more information can be covered each semester than is possible in a typical high school setting.The vast majority of college students are adults (i.e, over 18 years old), whereas almost all high school students are adolescents. This means that college students will have more competing responsibilities -- such as jobs and families -- than high school students. It also means, however, that college students are typically self motivated and more able to take responsibility for their own learning.
Among the adults in college are some -- often known as "non-traditional" or "returning" -- students who are older than the typical student who has recently completed high school. These students often face special challenges as they balance family and job responsibilities with school, especially if they have not been in an academic environment for a number of years. In many cases, however, they make special contributions to the classes they take, as they model a strong commitment to learning while sharing insights they have gained from added life experience.