Frequently Asked Questions about the Honors Contracts

An honors contract allows a student to make an individualized arrangement with an instructor to earn honors credit in a non-honors course. The honors contract details and outlines the work that will be completed in order to earn honors credit. Students must submit an honors contract to the W. A. Franke Honors College if they want to earn honors credit for a non-honors course. Honors contracts can only be submitted by honors students.

The assignment(s) for the honors contract can be almost anything you and the instructor agree on. The work for the honors contract should be qualitatively different from the work already assigned for the course. The content of the honors contract cannot be a preceptorship experience.

Please see Guidelines for the Substance of the Honors Contract to see what content the honors contracts are reviewed for.
 

Approval process for honors contracts:

  1. Student submits honors contract.
  2. Confirmation of submission email is sent to the student.
  3. Student’s contract proposal submission is sent to the instructor for review.
  4. W. A. Franke Honors College processes honors contract after:
             a. Submission deadline has passed.
             b. Instructor’s approval has been received.
  5. Student and instructor receive confirmation of the result of Franke Honors College review.
     

You will receive an email confirmation once your professor has reviewed and submitted their response for your honors contract. It is your responsibility to follow-up with your professor to make sure they have submitted their approval. If your instructor does not submit their approval of your honors contract by the appropriate submission deadline, it could delay the processing of your honors contract. You will need to contact your Franke Honors Advisor if your professor did not submit their approval by the appropriate date.

There is a limit to how many Honors units a student can earn via Honors Contracts. All Honors students may contract up to 12 units. If you will be going over your Honors contract unit limit of 12 units, please reach out to your Honors Academic Advisor.

The submission deadline for the honors contract is dependent on the length of the course. Since all information is due by the submission deadline it is advised that you start on your Honors Contract sooner in the semester rather than later.

Please check the honors contract homepage for due dates for the current semester.

Yes! The Honors College no longer requires PhDs, GAs, or TAs to seek approval from the W. A. Franke Honors College to supervise contracts.

Since honors credit for honors contracts is awarded when entering final grades, PhDs/GAs/TAs who will not be entering final grades will need to communicate which students will be earning honors units to whomever is entering final grades.

If your honors contract is not submitted by the appropriate submission deadline, it is possible that your Honors Contract will be denied by the W. A. Franke Honors College. You will need to contact your Honors Academic Advisor if you are submitting your honors contract past the submission deadline.

If you realize there was an error upon submitting your form or are having technical challenges with the form, please contact the W. A. Franke Honors College.

There are certain classes you CANNOT make an Honors Contract for. Classes you cannot make an Honors Contract for are:

  • Courses that offer an Honors section option this semester
    • If there is a course that offers an honors section, you must be enrolled in the honors section in order to earn honors credit.
  • Internships
    • Courses numbered: 193, 293, 393, 493. However, many departments offer honors sections of these courses, so we encourage you to check with the home department to see if this is an option for you.
  • Preceptorship
    • Courses numbered: 191, 291, 391, 491. However, many departments offer honors sections of these courses, so we encourage you to check with the home department to see if this is an option for you.
  • Independent Study
    •  Courses numbered: 199, 299, 399, 499. However, many departments offer honors sections of these courses, so we encourage you to check with the home department to see if this is an option for you.
  • Study Abroad courses
    • Courses taken at other institutions cannot be contracted. However, you may qualify for a credit reduction through the W. A. Franke Honors College Study Away policy. You can learn more about that option here.
  • Courses with alternative grading
    • S (superior), P (pass), F (fail)
  • Courses taken in the Winter session
    •   These are courses taken between the fall and spring semesters.
  •  Courses that are co-convened with a 500-level graduate class
    • If this is your very first semester at the University of Arizona OR you have less than 60 earned units, please contact your Honors Academic Advisor to discuss how you could potentially earn honors credit for the course. If you have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA at the University of Arizona AND you have at least 60 earned units, you would not create an Honors Contract. Instead, you would fill out the Undergraduate Enrollment in Graduate Course form and turn it into the Office of the Registrar, Administration 210. If you have questions about this, please contact your Honors Academic Advisor.

If you have questions about a specific class you are wanting to create an Honors Contract for, please contact your Honors Academic Advisor.

Yes! You can create multiple Honors Contracts in the same semester. However, whenever you are creating an Honors Contract be sure you know your Honors Contract Unit Limit. (See How many units can I earn by Honors Contracts?)

If you need to contract more honors units than is allowed per your Honors Unit Requirement, please reach out to your Honors Academic Advisor and they can talk through options with you.

Best practice, whenever you are having challenges in any course, is to communicate those challenges to the professor. If you are finding you will be unable to complete the terms of your honors contract, you should set up a time to meet with your professor to talk about options and next steps. You will not receive Honors credit for the class if you do not complete the terms of the honors contract, but this will not negatively impact your final grade in the class.

No. Your Honors Contract should have no weight on your final grade in the class. Additionally, just because you are doing an honors contract does not mean your final grade in the class will be higher or lower. Honors contract requirements should be assessed separately from the original assigned work in the class and will be evaluated as either “Satisfied” or “Not Satisfied” when final grades are submitted by your instructor.

If this is your very first semester at the University of Arizona OR you have less than 60 earned units, please contact your Honors Academic Advisor to discuss how you could potentially earn honors credit for the course. If you have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA at the University of Arizona AND you have at least 60 earned units, you would not create an Honors Contract. Instead, you would fill out the Undergraduate Enrollment in Graduate Course form and turn it into the Office of the Registrar, Administration 210. If you have questions about this, please contact your Honors Academic Advisor.

Please contact you Honors Academic Advisor to talk about your options.