About Our Program

The Honors Program at Elon University is a community of exceptional students from all majors. This four-year program offers all the best features of an Elon education: challenging courses with strong faculty instructors, exciting research opportunities with expert mentors, introduction to international perspectives through global study, and a community of faculty and student inquirers who want to be fully engaged in a rewarding academic experience.

Started in 1974, the Honors Program has evolved to include a significant Honors thesis, interdisciplinary Honors-only classes, strong living-learning communities, and substantial financial support.

Honors Fellows and faculty are engaged citizens who push at the boundaries of their personal experiences to engage thoughtfully with one other, their fields of study, and local and global communities. Honors Fellows are leaders learning to craft a more equitable world and to challenge the status quo.

Mission

The Honors Program seeks to:

  • Help Honors Fellows expand their minds by encountering new ideas in small, discussion-based and innovative liberal arts and sciences courses
  • Improve students’ critical thinking, research and communication skills
  • Provide an intellectual community in and extending beyond the classroom walls
  • Challenge and support Honors Fellows in the highest possible academic achievements, culminating in an independent thesis
  • Prepare students to excel in graduate or professional pursuits as independent, hard-working, open-minded, compassionate, lifelong learners and honorable community members.

Some Benefits of Elon’s Honors Fellows Program

  • A community of bright, curious, hard-working students
  • $13,500 Honors Scholarship applied to tuition, plus $7,500 Presidential Scholarship, totaling $21,000 annually, or $84,000 over the four years of the program.
  • Small, innovative courses developed specially for the Honors Program
  • Strong faculty support-as teachers, mentors, and advisors
  • Two Honors living and learning communities available (Kenan Pavilion and Colonnades C)
  • Thesis research with a faculty mentor:  in-depth study in your major over junior and senior years
  • Thesis research grant of up to $1000 (other opportunities through the Undergraduate Research Program)
  • Study abroad grant of $1000 for Elon-approved programs
  • Colloquium opportunities and incentives
  • Honors Elon 101 class (first year advising seminar)
  • Peer mentor system
  • Information and advising related to national fellowships and Lumen scholarships.