I would say that it is because people are not well informed. It really has to do with ignorance.
Whenever I say that colleges now offer four-year programs, people are amazed. When I say that colleges have applied research, people are amazed. When I say that colleges now offer higher education programs, people are amazed. It is ignorance, plain and simple. People have very little information. They also do not know that there are a lot of pathways between colleges and universities, and vice versa.
Colleges are no longer what they used to be 40 years ago. They have changed a great deal. Unfortunately, people don't know that.