Community of Scholars

The Community of Scholars, CF’s honors program, offers exceptionally able students the challenge and opportunity to enhance their academic talents and careers. Through its curriculum of enriched studies, the Community of Scholars emphasizes three goals: to recognize excellence in scholarship, to reward distinguished achievement, and to direct intellectual curiosity toward continued accomplishment.

The Community of Scholars focuses attention on these areas of study: language and literature, humanities, history, science and technology. These honors seminars are currently offered:

In addition, SLS 2261 Leadership Development is required for all Track I participants.

All highly motivated students who plan to work toward an Associate in Arts degree from CF should seek admission to the Community of Scholars program. The following guidelines are used to identify those students who should benefit most from enriched studies in the honors program. It should be noted, however, that no single criterion in the following list is absolute: i.e., a SAT score of 1050 might prove acceptable for a student with demonstrated successes in other areas.

1. a composite score of 25 on the ACT or a total of 1,100 on the SAT
2. a high school grade point average of at least 3.75 (on a 4.0 scale) or ranking in the top 10 percent of their graduating class or a minimum 3.3 grade point average at CF
3. outstanding scores on CF placement tests, such as the ACT, SAT and/or PERT
4. demonstration of special talents or abilities through portfolios, projects, papers, awards, auditions, etc.

The Community of Scholars issues formal invitations to graduating high school seniors meeting selective admission requirements. The two-year program requires completion of 18 credit hours in honors courses while maintaining a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.3. Scholarships for four semesters are awarded to as many as 58 selected students yearly.

Since 1990, the Community of Scholars program has also invited outstanding CF scholars into a second track, designed to include students who did not come to CF directly from high school. These students must earn a minimum of 12 honors credits. Track 2 students may become eligible for partial tuition scholarships after their first semester in the program. For more information on the Community of Scholars, contact the director of the Honors Institute.