Starting in the fall of 2027, a novel initiative at the University of Michigan will change how grades are reported for many new students. This pilot program will replace traditional letter grades with “pass” or “no credit” for first-semester freshmen, aiming to address concerns about student mental health.
Announced by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, which is the university’s largest college, this move is designed to alleviate the pressures of academic performance that can contribute to mental health issues. A statement from the college highlights, “We believe that covering grades will help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals.”
Research from the Healthy Minds Study, co-conducted at U-M, indicates that despite some improvements, 32% of college students experience “moderate to severe” anxiety. Experts believe that reducing the emphasis on grades could alleviate some of this pressure.
Rosemary J. Perez, an associate professor at U-M, observes that the university’s competitive atmosphere can hinder genuine learning. She notes, “You hear from somebody like, ‘if I don’t get an A in this class, I’ll never be able to —’ and fill in the blanks with a hundred different things — ‘get into this next course, get the internship, get into graduate school, get this job I want.’ They’re already feeling that if they make one misstep it’s just going to knock everything down.”
Matthew Kaplan, the associate vice provost for learning and teaching, supports the program’s potential to encourage students to explore diverse academic interests without fear of grades. “There’s so much such richness in the curriculum in LSA and, in fact, across the university,” Kaplan mentioned. “Freeing students from worrying about their grades — letting them experiment in that first semester — might open them up to ideas that they hadn’t thought about.”
The program will automatically include all first-year students, excluding transfer students. While students will still receive feedback from instructors, these grades will not appear on transcripts or affect GPAs, though they will be retained for internal purposes such as advising and scholarship applications.
This initiative aligns with broader educational trends focusing on early momentum and flexible assessment methods. The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts already offers leniency in dropping courses late without penalty, and the Ross School of Business has moved away from curved grading.
Further discussions between university stakeholders, including public engagement sessions, are planned before the program’s launch. Chris Sebastian, a U-M spokesperson, stated that more information would be shared as the program develops, emphasizing that it aims to facilitate a smoother transition into university life for first-year students.
“The first-semester grade covering pilot program, designed to help first-year students better acclimate to the demands of a University of Michigan education, is still in its development phase,” Sebastian wrote. “We will have more details to share this fall, as faculty, staff and students in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts continue to inform the design, development and implementation of a pilot program.”
