Honors Scholars will enter the University Honors Program, which is open to students of any major. The program consists of 30 hours of required honors credit, as follows:

• An honors core of four courses (or 12 semester hours). The core courses include English, Bible, history, and science, which satisfy either university or departmental core requirements. All honors students will take these courses as the foundation of the honors experience.
• An additional 18 hours of courses designated for honors credit. The university presently offers an additional 12 hours of designated honors courses on a variety of topics, and it plans to continue to add courses as the program grows and develops. Included in these 12 hours is a senior capstone course, HON 4399, Writings and Research, designed to give honors students an opportunity to engage in an extensive research project on an issue or problem in their major field of study.
• Students fulfill the remaining six hours of required honors credit by entering into honors contracts with instructors of a variety of primarily upper division classes, usually in their majors. In these classes, faculty give Honors Scholars more challenging work to earn the honors designation. The emphasis will be not in the quantity but the quality of the assignments.

Advanced Standing in the Honors Program

Students who enter the honors program will receive advanced standing credit as follows:

• English 1301: Automatic credit if students have earned the university’s minimum requirement of 28 on the English portion of the ACT.
• English 1302: Contingent credit if students have earned at least 28 on the English portion of the ACT, or have earned credit for ENG 1301 by taking it prior to admission to LCU, or by passing the ENG 1301 CLEP test. If they pass the honors core English course (HON 2301) with a B or better, then they receive actual credit for English 1302 as well. If they do not earn a B in HON 2301, then they must enroll in ENG 1302 in a subsequent semester.
• English 1301 and 1302: Credit for a pass rate of 80% or better on the English CLEP tests. Students who do not have at least a 28 on the English portion of the ACT have the option to take these examinations for credit.
• Math 1311: Automatic credit if students have earned the university’s minimum requirement of 28 on the math portion of the ACT.
• Other courses: See the LCU Testing Office for lists of other courses for which students can earn credit by testing. See “Advanced Standing” in this catalog for other options for alternative means of earning credit.
• Transfer credit: LCU will award credit to freshman honors students as with other students for work done prior to enrolling at LCU, with the following exception:
  • Students may not replace honors core courses HON 1301, Bible; HON 2301, English; HON 1304, science; HON 2304, American History; with courses they completed prior to enrolling at LCU. They must complete these as honors courses at LCU in order to fulfill the core requirements of the honors program. They may, however, use these courses taken prior to enrollment at LCU as electives and count them toward their total number of semester hours.
  • Students who plan to enroll in the UHP would do well to study the lists above for guidance in the choice of dual-credit courses, standardized tests, and AP exams they take in high school. For example, taking American history as a dual-credit course in high school might not be the best choice for prospective Honors Scholars, who would have to take it again for HON credit at LCU.

(HON) Honors Designated Courses

30 Required Credit Hours

*Courses are subject to changes and additions as the Lubbock Christian University Honors Program grows and develops. Study-abroad courses may be substituted for contract course requirements.