The University of Michigan will stop issuing letter grades to first-semester freshmen in the upcoming academic year, replacing them with a pass or no credit system, according to WOODTV.com.
The change applies to students in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA), as reported by upnorthlive.com. The program is set to take effect next year, with the university framing the move as a response to concerns about student mental health, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Under the new policy, incoming freshmen will not receive traditional A through F grades for their first semester. Instead, they will be marked as either passing or receiving no credit. The shift is intended to ease academic pressure during the transition to college, per the WSJ report.
The decision has not been without criticism. The Detroit News reports that the plan to withhold freshman grades has faced backlash, with some questioning how the system will affect graduate school admissions, scholarships, and academic motivation. ABC News also covered the change ahead of the school year, noting the policy applies specifically to a subset of freshmen rather than the entire student body.
WOODTV.com first reported the news on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. The university has not yet detailed how the pass/no credit marks will be converted for external purposes, such as transcript evaluations by employers or other institutions.
What to watch next: Whether other universities adopt similar grading policies and how U-M handles the backlash from students and faculty in the coming months.
