The executive power of American education is not in the federal government, but in the States and local governments or private institutions at all levels. The authority of the Education Department of the United States federal government is very limited, and its main responsibility is to allocate education funds to States according to the intention of Congress and provide scholarships to domestic students in the United States. Every state in the United States has a state inspector or director of education, who is responsible for formulating state-wide education policies and leading subordinate institutions to implement these policies within the state. Private universities are in charge of administrative power by the board of directors elected by the institution hosting the university. The board of directors of public universities also has great autonomy in deciding the policies and regulations of universities. American universities have their own characteristics, ranging from teaching policies, specialty settings and examination items to TOEFL admission scores and registration fees.

Although American education is administratively decentralized, the social evaluation of schools is relatively unified. Schools should conduct regular audits, and only those who meet the requirements can obtain recognized qualifications. The evaluation of colleges and universities in the United States is divided into six regions, and each region establishes local large and medium-sized schools to evaluate the schools in the region. The contents of evaluation usually include teachers, courses, teaching quality, equipment, management and so on. After a comprehensive review, it is decided whether a school is recognized. In addition to the school's evaluation, some professional courses have to be evaluated and recognized by professional evaluation groups. In some professional fields, such as medicine, law and dentistry, the completion of recognized professional courses is a prerequisite for obtaining licenses.

American higher education institutions are divided into public and private in nature. Public colleges refer to schools funded by the federal government, state governments and local governments; Private colleges are schools funded by individuals and private groups (such as churches or enterprises). The main difference between the two is the different sources of funds. The funds of public universities mainly come from the state government's tax allocation, the federal government's scientific research, the purchase of books and equipment, various funding allocations for students and donations from alumni, business foundations and other organizations. The funds of private universities mainly come from the tuition fees charged to students, which are usually much higher than those of public institutions, and donations from alumni, corporate foundations and other organizations.

There are nearly 1500 public institutions of higher learning and 1600 private institutions in the United States. Generally speaking, the tuition fees of public institutions are lower than those of private institutions, but for international students, they often do not enjoy the tuition fees of students from various States in the United States, so they have to pay twice or more tuition fees of students from their own States. Therefore, for international students, the tuition gap between public institutions and private institutions is not too big.

Both public and private schools have universities with high quality and good reputation. Don't judge a school only from the perspective of private or public schools. To judge the quality of a university, we should know its teachers, courses and history.