system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is a community college and why is it looked bad upon?
gpt
College is the same thing as university in the United States; it's an optional school after high school.  

A community college is often small and local, and they get most of their funding from the state (like, California or Oklahoma). They also must meet certain requirements for state curriculum and must be certified, so they have requirements for what, how, and how often they teach students. Those standards let everyone know that the degree they can earn will be considered equal to a degree from any other community college. Since there may be many community colleges in high-population areas, they may develop specialties in study (arts, biology, culinary, etc.) while others focus on different specialties. It's rare for a community college to have more than one school (liberal arts vs. engineering at a university) or a wide variety of advanced studies.   

Community colleges are looked down on for a few reasons:  
- They're the "cheap" college. The cost of attendance is much lower, with expensive community colleges rarely reaching above $15,000 for 4 years. Private and state universities are much larger, have wider options for degrees, host graduate studies, and do much more research (among other things), so they have higher costs.   
- They also do 2 year degrees and certifications other than degrees. This leads to many people assuming that anyone who attended a community college *only* got a 2-year degree or a certificate.  
- They have lower standards for admissions, so it's possible for students who did poorly in high school or got a GED to go to community college. People then assume that people who went to a CC weren't smart enough to go to any other schools.  

Overall, it's the comparison of community colleges to more expensive and better funded universities that makes them looked down upon. They lack the prestige of a university. A positive look at CC's may view them as efficient, cost-effective, and more flexible for scheduling and financing.