If you have graduated from high school, have taken two years of course work at (say) a community college, and have earned an associate degree, here are some questions and how you would answer them in the United States. Are you a high-school graduate? Yes. Do you have a high-school diploma? Yes. Do you have a four-year college degree? No. It would be careless for an interviewer to ask "do you have a college diploma?" They should ask "do you have a four-year college diploma?" If they ask "do you have a diploma" or "do you have a college diploma," a good answer would be "I have an associate degree in Accounting from Zenith Community College," rather than saying "yes" or "no."

In the United States, "diploma" means the actual physical piece of paper, the certificate. The "degree" is the intangible status you have. For example, I have the degree of "bachelor of science" from MIT. My diploma is the piece of paper that says so. It's signed by the president of the university. I could lose my diploma--the piece of paper--but I will always have my degree. In the United States, you graduate from "high school" at about age 18. "High school" is more formally called "secondary school." At the graduation ceremony, you are given a diploma. So you have "a high school diploma." But for some reason, you do not get a "degree" from high school. The word "degree" is used for completing "post-secondary" courses of study. An "associate degree" usually requires only two years of post-secondary, so it is not as high a degree as "a four-year college degree." "Diploma" is derived from Greek roots meaning "folded in two." Centuries ago, diplomas were made of parchment, a very-high-quality paper-like material made from sheepskin, and they were typically folded in two. But diplomas have not really been made of sheepskin since the 1800s.