University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business commons area.
Freshman Year Is Stressful Enough: University of Michigan Takes GPA Pressure Off The Table
Full disclosure: starting college can feel like a massive lifestyle change. Suddenly, instead of small hometown classrooms, you’re crammed into large lecture halls with hundreds of people, trying to find your classroom, figuring out how to do your own laundry, and learning which dining hall has good food.
Somewhere in the midst, you’re expected to earn grades that could shape your academic future. That adds up to a whole lot of pressure, and it can take a toll.
The University of Michigan is betting students might do better academically if those early grades didn’t immediately follow freshman. Starting in fall 2027, its College of Literature, Science, and the Arts will replace traditional letter grades for first-semester freshmen with a pass-or-no-credit system. What that means is that “First-semester grades will not factor into grade-point averages,” shares Mark Arsenault in The New York Times.
The school says the policy is intended to relieve pressure on freshmen and ultimately reduce the footprint on the mental health crisis unfolding among young adults.
RETHINKING THE FIRST SEMESTER EXPERIENCE
Mental health has become a key topic in higher education. UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 Young Adult & College Student Behavioral Health Report found that 69% of college students said they experienced a mental or behavioral health concern in the past year, compared with 54% of young adults who were not in college.
Edward Helmore of The Guardian says Michigan’s decision is based on a broader conversation around college mental health. He says similar initiatives already exist at Caltech, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and MIT.
Some critics, Helmore shares, question whether easing academic pressure could make it harder for students to develop resilience. Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute called the policy exactly the wrong diagnosis, arguing that students need some productive tension.
“It turns out that swaddling college students does not actually improve their mental health,” Hess says. “It creates entitlement. It creates a lack of productive tension.”
Some students have other thoughts. Student body president Summit Louth, now a junior, says Michigan’s new grading system is an incredible adjustment.
“You’re just figuring out how to be an adult and live on your own,” he said. “It gets extremely stressful having to balance that with also wanting to be a straight-A student. It will do a lot to help get students into a routine that is healthy and sustainable for the time they are here.”
Next Page: Boston University Making College Tuition Free For Some Students
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