Suggests that community colleges have always offered programs designed to encourage the enrollment of high ability students, including formal honors programs, honors courses or societies, tuition incentives, and opportunities for independent study. Cites ERIC documents and journal articles reflecting the current literature on honors programs…

Honors programs are not a major part of the community college curriculum due to the colleges' focus on providing access to nontraditional students, as well as the feeling of some community college educators that honors programs are inherently elitist. A 1975 survey found that only 47 of 644 responding institutions had formalized honors programs. A…