The current honors credit hour requirement for Southern Arkansas University Honors College stands at twenty-four hours with eighteen hours to consist of general education courses and the remaining six hours to consist of upper division courses.[2] [Editor's Note: It is now 9 general educations courses minimum] While these seem to be solid numbers, there are multiple factors that can make achieving these required hours difficult for a student. The number one factor is concurrent credit. These are college level classes taken by a student in high school, which count for both high school and college credit. Concurrent credit course opportunities usually consist of general education courses and do not include any honors credit courses. This is a problem because when that student reaches college with all these pre-completed general education course credits, they must struggle to find honors credit in courses that have not already taken.
Another problem that occurs for Honors College students is trying to find honors credit courses in their chosen field. Southern Arkansas University does not offer an equal number of honors credit courses in all subject areas. For example, there are not many honors credit opportunities in either English or art but there are more than enough opportunities for science majors. This causes some students to resort to taking classes they do not need or want because they need the honors credit in order to graduate.
Overall, I believe this Honors College is an asset to Southern Arkansas University, but there is always room for improvement. One way Southern Arkansas University could improve is by offering a wider range of honors credit courses. If there are not enough students to fill a separate honors course, the university could consider contract or online courses. As far as the general education hours are concerned, Southern Arkansas University could solve this problem by either lowering the total number of required honors credit or by allowing students to take less general education honors credit, and more upper division honors credit.
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