In March 1983, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges mandated the preparation of criteria for the identification of courses that should be ineligible for state support, in lieu of the continuation of specific course deletions. An Ad Hoc Committee on Course Criteria was formed to assist in the identification of the issues and problems involved and to arrive at recommendations. The resulting report begins by providing background on state studies defining credit and noncredit courses and the state's program classification system, legislative consideration of mandatory student fees, the Board's course deletion process, and the Committee's formation. Next, factors affecting the course criteria recommendations are specified, including the Board's desire for course classification consistency; difficulties in labelling courses "avocational" or "recreational"; the diversity of the community college mission; and the balance between state and local governance. In addition, recent educational developments related to course criteria are discussed, such as actions concerning state-supported non-credit courses, grading and course repetition policies, and the deliberations of the Academic Quality Task Force. Finally, five recommendations are provided for strengthening standards and criteria for courses, reinstating deleted courses, improving course review and approval processes, and monitoring reintroduced courses. (LL)