It has set off a firestorm on social media.
The University of Michigan recently announced plans to mask first-semester grades for students in its liberal arts college starting fall 2027.
Though students in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts will still receive letter grades, the school plans to simply list classes as “P” for pass or “NC” for no credit on official transcripts. And the first-semester grades won’t be used to calculate grade-point averages.
“We believe that covering grades will help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals,” the school said online.
But some jeered the news, especially because it follows broader concerns about rampant grade inflation and cheating with artificial intelligence in college. “Next stop: students needn’t attend classes or turn in any work,” novelist Walter Kirn wrote on X.
It’s not the first college to try this tactic.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has offered some form of pass/no credit for first-year students since 1968. And Swarthmore College stopped publishing letter grades for first-semester students on transcripts in the 1970s.
“It’s very surprising to me that it is controversial,” said Richard Wicentowski, provost and computer science professor at Swarthmore. He said the policy helps reduce stress for new students and encourages them to tackle new subjects. “It really brings the temperature down.”
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