“Two years at a JC probably could have better prepared him for a four year state college, which is not as demanding as a UC.”
UC is a state college.
California has two College systems:
University System : Berkeley, UCLA, Irvine, Santa Barbara, etc.
"State Colleges" : Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State San Diego, etc.
I was referring to those schools when I said "state colleges"
In general the "State colleges" do not offer PhD programs and have less stringent entrance requirements , while the Universities do have PhD programs and are more difficult to enter.
To confuse issues even further: The official name of Long beach State is: California State University at Long Beach.
But no one, including the alumnae (I am one), call it that. We call it: Cal State Long Beach.
“Two years at a JC probably could have better prepared him for a four year state college, which is not as demanding as a UC.”
UC is a state college.
I think he meant something like “Cal State ______” as opposed to “University of California at ____”.