To provide a mechanism for students to receive honors credit in a course for which enrollment in a designated honors section is not possible.

An honors compact is an agreement between a student and an instructor that, under the instructor’s guidance, the student will complete an enhancement of a course that significantly enriches the educational experience in a manner consistent with other courses that receive honors credit at FAU. This achievement is noted on the student’s transcript.

A student’s educational experience in a course is enhanced by an honors compact through substantive work that reflects one of the following honors themes:

• Interdisciplinarity and connections among academic fields
• Research and access to direct sources of knowledge
• Leadership
• Service learning
• Creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Civic engagement
• Collaboration
• The unique setting of southeastern Florida
• Other topics appropriate to the individual discipline

An Honors Compact is not:

• An agreement that can be fulfilled simply by completing an additional paper or a few extra assignments.
• A device that merely makes the material of a course harder or more challenging without providing the type of enhancement typically found in other honors courses at Florida Atlantic University.

Must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to complete an honors compact

An honors compact must:

• Be worth 10% of your overall grade in the course (must have updated syllabus)
• Consist of three (3) meetings with instructor regarding honors compact progress
• Promote academic excellence.
• Challenge students to strive toward achieving a significantly higher level of learning than would be possible if this compact were not completed.
• Recognize and foster the exceptional abilities and talents of high ability students.
• Extend and enrich the cultural or academic perspectives of students.
• Clearly demonstrate how the honors component 1) complements and extends the existing content of the course; and 2) is significantly richer than the established requirements of the course both in content and methodology.
• Require the student to engage in a high level of critical or thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, innovation, or application.
• Culminate in a specific “product” that can be evaluated.

Request permission from insturctor to complete honors compact. After approval, meet with instructor to design honors compact details and fill out Honors Compact Approval Form

• Submit electronic copy of the signed honors compact proposal and approval form (must be signed by both student and instructor) and a copy of the course syllabus (with instructor meeting dates listed) to honorsboca@fau.edu
• UHP staff will review the application and the student’s GPA as soon as possible and will notify the student and the instructor whether the honors compact has been approved or must be revised.
• Each honors compact must be initiated by the student and completed with all required signatures no later than the last official day of final examinations for any term.
• The instructor will then notify the Assistant Director of the UHP whether an honors compact has been successfully completed no later than the last official day of final examinations for any term.
• The UHP Staff will provide the registrar with a list of all successfully completed honors compacts no later than the day that grades are due in the registrar’s office.
• If, due to circumstances beyond his or her control, the student is granted an official Incomplete in the course, the honors compact must be completed no later than the date when all other course requirements must be completed.
• Any appeals involving an honors compact should follow the appeals procedure (as detailed in the Code of Academic Integrity) although the Chair of the University Honors Council may be consulted during the process. Normal university deadlines for all grade changes still apply.

Honors Compact Proposal Form

Instructions for Signing Fillable PDF