The aim of this paper is to establish the differences between full-time and part-time students of the first and second year graduate study program of early childhood and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia, in knowledge and encounter with legal components of the early childhood and preschool education profession through university education. Furthermore, an attempt was made to establish the connection between the knowledge acquired at the college about the legal components of the early childhood and preschool education profession and the competence to enter the early childhood and preschool educational profession. For the purposes of testing the three hypotheses, the Mann Whitney U test and Spearman's rho coefficient rank correlation were used. The results involving 125 (N = 125) students of early childhood and preschool education at different universities in the Republic of Croatia indicate that there is no statistically significant difference between full-time and part-time students of early childhood and preschool education with regard to knowledge of legal component of early childhood and preschool education profession. Testing confirmed that part-time students of early childhood and preschool education did not meet the legal components of the educational profession to the same extent as full-time students during university education. Part-time students were less likely to encounter the legal components of the early childhood and preschool profession through college education. Furthermore, it was confirmed that knowledge of the legal components of the activities of the early childhood and preschool profession does not affect the level of competence of students to enter the early childhood and preschool profession.