Honors programs - are they a must?

You can always drop out of Honors after a semester.
There aren’t many classes indeed! Based on the page you linked to, there are special internships open only to Honors Students, and essentially it looks like the Honors “classes” really are getting credit for a co-op only open to Honors Students…
And remember that they offer the Honors Contract option, meaning that you can transform any class of your choice into a Honors Class.