Key Takeaways
- University of Michigan will use pass-or-no-credit grading for first-semester freshmen starting fall 2027.
- The policy aims to reduce academic pressure and encourage students to explore unfamiliar subjects.
- Critics argue students need academic rigor and setbacks to build resilience for adulthood.
The University of Michigan will make first-semester grades pass or no credit for freshmen starting fall 2027, aiming to reduce academic pressure and support student mental health.
New Policy Removes Grades From GPAs
The policy will apply to first-year students in the university’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts, its largest college. About 3,500 freshmen attend the college, while the university has about 8,000 freshmen overall.
Traditional letter grades will still be recorded internally for compliance reporting, academic honors and other purposes. But student transcripts will show “pass” or “no credit,” and first-semester grades will not count toward students’ grade-point averages.
The University of Michigan says the change is designed to help students adjust to college-level work without immediately facing the long-term effects of low grades.
Students also will have more room to take courses outside their usual interests. The university said students can explore subjects that may be difficult or unfamiliar without fearing that a poor grade will affect their academic record.
Students And Experts Debate The Change
Summit Louth, the University of Michigan student body president, said students he has spoken with have strongly supported the policy.
“It will do a lot to help get students into a routine that is healthy and sustainable for the time they are here,” Louth said.
Louth, a junior, said the policy could have helped him during his first year, when he was adjusting to living independently while trying to maintain high grades.
“You’re just figuring out how to be an adult and live on your own,” he said. “It gets extremely stressful having to balance that with also wanting to be a straight-A student.”
The policy also faces criticism from education and mental health experts who argue that academic challenges can help students develop resilience.
Rick Hess, a senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, called the change “exactly the wrong diagnosis.” He said colleges should instead increase academic rigor and student expectations.
Psychotherapist and author Jonathan Alpert said poor grades can cause anxiety but questioned whether that experience should be treated as a mental health problem.
“Feeling bad isn’t the same thing as being unwell,” Alpert said. He said students need opportunities to learn that setbacks can be difficult without preventing them from moving forward.
Other Universities Take Different Approaches
Chris Hulleman, a professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia, said it was encouraging to see universities reconsider how grading affects students.
Research suggests pass/fail grading can reduce student burnout, while comparative grading can increase anxiety, Hulleman said. He described Michigan’s decision as a positive step toward examining alternatives to traditional grading.
The University of Michigan’s approach resembles the system used by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, first-semester freshman grades are recorded as pass or no record, giving students time to adjust to college workloads and teaching methods.
Brown University also offers alternative grading options in many courses, including satisfactory or no credit and letter grades followed by no credit.
Harvard University has moved in the opposite direction. Its Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted in May to limit A grades in undergraduate classes to about 20% of grades, part of an effort to address concerns about grade inflation.
The University of Michigan’s new policy will take effect in fall 2027.
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