Fritz Honors College

The new Fritz Honors College is a collaborative, diverse and inclusive community of motivated and high-potential learners and doers pursuing intellectual, personal and professional development at the highest possible levels.

Come help build honors at LR. True honors education is both student-centered and largely student-directed. Since the Fritz Honors College is new, you have the extraordinary opportunity to help build a unique and distinctive honors college here starting in fall 2024. You'll collaborate with fellow honors college students, professors and Jeff Vahlbusch, Ph.D., dean of the Fritz Honors College, to create your own outstanding future. Learn to lead transformative change!

Benefits

The Fritz Honors College provides many benefits, including:

  • Interdisciplinary honors courses
  • A vibrant and diverse intellectual and social community
  • Opportunities for research, scholarship and creative activity
  • Close collaboration with fellow students and faculty members
  • Opportunities for civic engagement, service and leadership
  • Social events and professional development activities
  • Great mentoring and advising
  • Unconditional support — during your time at LR and after you graduate

Apply

We encourage all highly motivated, high-potential and high-achieving students—both high-school seniors and transfer students—to apply to join the Fritz Honors College. We aim to create a world-class honors educational institution and experience for students from all backgrounds and in all majors.

  • Incoming Student Application Process
    • Please submit a completed application for admission and a completed “Scholarship Programs and Fritz Honors College" application via your admission portal by December 15.
    • If you are not yet academically eligible, please send an email to Dean Jeff Vahlbusch at jeff.vahlbusch@lr.edu to start a conversation.
       
  • Applicant Information
    • In keeping with best practices of honors education nationally and internationally, the Fritz Honors College’s approach to admission is inclusive, holistic and supportive. We read every word of your application materials, and our decisions don’t privilege national test scores (ACT, SAT), class rank or GPA. 
    • We are looking for motivated students eager to pursue and contribute to world-class educational opportunities and a thriving honors college community. 
    • If we invite you to join the Fritz Honors College starting in the fall, wonderful: we will celebrate! And if, after reading your application, we want you to complete a semester of courses at Lenoir-Rhyne and then reapply to the Fritz Honors College, Dean Jeff Vahlbusch will send you an email invitation to meet with him once you arrive on campus in early fall to help you prepare your application.

Scholarship Opportunities

All incoming students are eligible to receive scholarships associated with Fritz Honors College. Typically, students who receive these awards have a 3.0 GPA or higher, are involved in their school and community, have completed service hours and have demonstrated a vision for their future.

  • The Presidential Scholarship

    All high-achieving, highly motivated students should apply for LR’s prestigious Presidential Scholarship, which offers automatic admission to Fritz Honors College and covers the cost of tuition at Lenoir-Rhyne for eight regular semesters. All recipients are required to live on campus. 

    Apply by submitting the “Scholarship Programs and Fritz Honors College Application” via your admission portal. All application material is due by December 15.

  • Fritz Honors College Scholarship

    Many applicants invited to join the Fritz Honors College will also be awarded a Fritz Honors College Scholarship valued at $2,000 per year.

    Apply by submitting the “Scholarship Programs and Fritz Honors College Application” via your admission portal. All application materials are due by December 15.

Requirements by Major