Michigan Will Hide Freshmen's Letter Grades. Here's Why.
The University of Michigan's largest college will stop giving letter grades to first-semester freshmen. Starting in fall 2027, those students will instead see a simple "pass" or "no credit" on their transcripts. The college, called Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA), announced the pilot program in early August 2026. (New York Times; Forbes)
The reason the university gave is student mental health. (The Independent; New York Post) Here is how it works: instructors will still grade assignments and exams the same way they always have. But when the semester ends, the official transcript will show only a "P" (pass) or "NC" (no credit) for each course. A student who earned an A-minus and a student who earned a C-plus would look the same on paper. Neither grade would affect the student's GPA, the number that summarizes overall academic performance. The university calls this the "LSA First-Semester Grade Covering Pilot Program." (LSA UMich)
The announcement comes against a changing picture of student well-being. A national survey called the Healthy Minds Study found in September 2025 that college students have reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts for three years in a row. (UMich SPH)
That trend cuts both ways. If student mental health is already improving, some might question whether a major change like this is urgently needed. On the other hand, even with the improvement, distress among college students remains high enough that a major university is willing to rethink something as basic as how it records grades. The Healthy Minds study did not look specifically at Michigan students or at how grading policies affect mental health.
LSA is not a small department. It is the largest college at the University of Michigan, enrolling a large share of the school's undergraduates. That means the program will affect thousands of students each year once it starts. (Forbes) The university is calling it a pilot, meaning it is a trial run that could be changed or dropped. But so far, the university has not said how it will judge whether the program works or how long it will last beyond the fall 2027 launch.
The broader context here is worth understanding. Pass/fail grading for a first semester is not unheard of in higher education, but it is usually found at small colleges or in special transition programs. Large public universities with competitive admissions, like Michigan, have generally stuck with traditional letter grades. What makes this move stand out is the scale of the school and the reasoning behind it — treating the transcript itself as a tool for protecting mental health, rather than as a purely academic record.
For professors, the day-to-day work does not change much. They will still evaluate students and assign grades. The difference is that those grades get converted to pass or no credit for the official record. Students who pass earn credit toward their degree. Students who do not pass get no credit. In neither case does the first semester affect the GPA.
One group that may notice the change is graduate and professional school admissions committees. When they review applications from Michigan LSA graduates, they will see one semester with no letter grades. This is not entirely new territory for them — transfer students and students from schools with unusual grading systems already create similar gaps in information.
There are also open questions about what the program might cause beyond its intended effect. If hiding grades reduces stress during the difficult transition to college life, that is a clear benefit. If it reduces students' motivation or hides early signs that a student is struggling, that is a real cost. Whether the pilot is worth keeping will depend on whether the university tracks these outcomes carefully enough to tell the difference.
What this initiative does show is a shift in how a major university thinks about the transcript. Rather than treating it as a fixed record that never changes, Michigan is treating it as something that can be redesigned to serve students better. Whether this particular experiment succeeds is unknown. But the fall 2027 start date gives the university a full year to explain the change to students, faculty, and anyone else affected, and to set up the evaluation that will decide whether the pilot continues.
