University of Michigan Will Hide Freshman Letter Grades From Transcripts Under New Mental-Health Policy

Students will still receive letter grades, but their first-semester transcripts will show only “pass” or “no credit”

Incoming freshmen at the University of Michigan’s largest college will no longer have their first-semester letter grades appear on their official transcripts beginning in fall 2027.

The new policy applies to all first-year students entering the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, commonly known as LSA. Instead of conventional grades, transcripts will display a “P” for pass or “NC” for no credit.

Those courses will not count toward the students’ grade-point averages.

University officials say the mandatory policy is intended to ease students into college, encourage academic exploration and help address what the school describes as a mental-health crisis among college-aged people.

“Our goal is to help first-year students acclimate to the demands of college and allow intrinsic motivations to guide personally meaningful academic journeys—core elements of a liberal arts and sciences education,” the university said.

LSA is the largest of the University of Michigan’s 19 colleges, serving approximately 19,700 undergraduate students.

Students will still receive letter grades on assignments and during the semester, meaning they will know how well—or poorly—they are performing. Their final letter grades, however, will not appear on the official transcript or affect their GPA.

The university argues that the arrangement will allow freshmen to experiment with difficult or unfamiliar subjects without worrying that one disappointing grade will follow them throughout college.

“For example, they can explore a subject that may not come easily to them or take a course in a new field without the fear that a low grade may have long-term consequences,” the university explained.

Officials said the change is intended to foster “a culture of connection and collaboration—rather than competition.”

The grades will not disappear entirely. The university will retain students’ actual first-semester letter grades in its internal records and may use them for academic advising, scholarships, awards, internships, professional applications, athletic eligibility, financial-aid decisions, compliance reporting and monitoring progress toward a degree.

The policy applies only to incoming LSA freshmen. Students enrolled in the university’s other colleges will not automatically receive the same treatment.

LSA students will not be permitted to opt out and have their conventional grades placed on their transcripts.

University officials said making participation optional would undermine the program’s purpose.

“An opt-in structure would defeat the purpose of facilitating students’ transition to campus, supporting mental health and well-being, and bolstering intrinsic motivations for learning,” the university said.

Michigan is not the first prominent institution to give freshmen temporary protection from conventional grades. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Swarthmore College and the California Institute of Technology have adopted similar systems.

Critics, however, question whether shielding students from the lasting consequences of poor grades promotes mental health or simply delays their exposure to ordinary academic pressure.

Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of “Therapy Nation,” said the policy treats normal stress and disappointment as though they are psychological emergencies.

“We’re raising a generation of students to believe that discomfort is dangerous,” Alpert said. “It isn’t. A bad grade can be upsetting, embarrassing and stressful. That’s not a mental health emergency. That’s college.”

Alpert warned that insulating freshmen from traditional grades could leave them less prepared for jobs and adult life, where poor performance frequently carries consequences that cannot be converted into a simple pass-or-no-credit designation.

“This is therapy culture invading the classroom,” he said. “We’ve spent years turning normal human emotions into symptoms. Stress becomes a mental health issue.”

Alpert said college should instead help young adults learn that they can withstand failure, recover from disappointment and improve after receiving unwelcome criticism.

“College should be one of the places where young people discover that they’re tougher than they think,” he said.

“A bad grade isn’t psychological harm. Sometimes it’s the wake-up call a student needs.”