With two classes left to complete, Tori Petry, 19, worries about receiving her UF Honors Program certificate.
The telecommunication sophomore completed two of four required courses during the first semester of her freshman year and has not enrolled in honors classes since.
For Petry and other honors undergraduates, fulfilling the Honors Program requirements just got a bit easier. Honors undergraduate students who enroll in graduate courses can now use these upper-level courses to fulfill the program's completion requirements.
Prior to this change, students could only select from a list of specific honors courses, which varied by semester, to complete the four-class requirement needed to receive the program's certificate of completion.
Students who wish to earn their certificate must also participate in at least one of the following: leadership activities, 50 hours of community service, study abroad, research or an internship.
"It occurred to us that students later in their career end up taking these graduate courses anyway," said Kevin Knudson, Honors Program director. "And these are worthy of recognition and excellence."
The Honors Program offers two days of early registration for students in their first three semesters at UF to sign up for one honors class per day. Early registration for these students will take place Thursday and Friday.
This makes it more difficult for juniors and seniors who haven't fulfilled their requirements to enroll in an honors class.
Petry said she believes graduate-level courses will appeal to those juniors and seniors who still want to complete the program but don't want to be in classes with underclassmen.
"It can be awkward for seniors to sit in a class full of freshmen when they're older," she said.
There are about 1,500 students in the honors program and about 200 students receive their certificate of completion per year.
