One of the most difficult problems facing colleges today is dealing with students whose basic skills are too low to allow them to benefit from college-level studies. While some institutions seem to have given up expectations for underprepared students' achievement, others have instituted massive programs of individualized counseling and tutoring as a supplement to remedial coursework. Evidence suggests that these compensatory programs are effective in increasing reading levels and lowering dropout rates; however, these programs also introduce a number of problems and questions of program design, costs, teacher morale, and selective admissions. Several options are available to colleges to reconcile the conflict between maintaining academic standards and open admissions. Most practical and desirable may be to allow any student to enroll in any course, but to limit the number of courses a poorly prepared student may take and mandate the use of support services. Poor writing ability may be improved by an approach called "writing across the curriculum." Based on the premise that writing can and should have an integral role in any course, the approach utilizes techniques including journals and notebooks, which can be extremely versatile teaching tools in many disciplines, and brief, in-class writing periods, which can stimulate discussion, clarify issues, and reinforce learning experiences. (Brief descriptions of remedial, English as a Second Language, and study skills programs at six multi-campus urban community college districts are included.) (AYC)