The University of Michigan's largest academic college is planning a pilot program of "grade covering" for first-semester freshmen in a year, a potential move that is meeting pushback from critics who said it doesn't allow students to prepare for the rest of their time at college or after.

College of Literature, Science and the Arts Dean Rosario Ceballo first announced the proposal in a 2025 address. The program, expected to begin in fall 2027, would designate all first-year, first-semester grades as pass or no credit on students' transcripts, according to the university's website. Students in LSA would still receive grades and feedback from professors, but the final grades wouldn't be recorded on external transcripts or reflected in their grade point averages.

The college said the program would help the roughly 3,500 students admitted to LSA every year "acclimate to the demands of a University of Michigan education and pursue new academic challenges." Ceballo also said in a statement released this week in the University Record that the pilot program would also address student stress, depression and anxiety.

The backlash since the program became more publicized last week has been immediate, reverberating on social media channels and conservative media outlets like Fox News and including alumni, including a former Michigan tight end Jake Butt, a Big 10 Network analyst who likened the grade covering to "participation trophies" and said it would blunt the ability of students to grow.

Critics have argued that hiding the grades isn't the right way to address students' mental health and would hurt students with top marks who wouldn't see those reflected on their transcript.

"This is a solution in search of a problem," Republican UM Regent candidate Michael Schostak said in an emailed statement. "U-M students are well prepared for the rigor and hard work of a college courseload; otherwise they would not have been admitted. I think working to improve student mental health is a worthy effort, but hiding grades and eliminating the word 'fail' is not the way to best prepare our students for life after school."

The university said faculty, staff and students across the university informed the design, development and implementation of the pilot program in a Monday article in the University Record, and it has generated support from department chairs and program directors across LSA.

The UM declined to comment further for this story and said more information was expected to be released throughout the fall.

Although the proposal only affects one of UM's 19 colleges, other universities have made "grade covering" for first-semester freshmen a policy for all. The university pointed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's grade covering program for first-year students in 1968 and the California Institute of Technology, Swarthmore College and Wellesley College's similar programs that have followed since.

Easing transition to college

UM's annual web-based survey found more than one in three college students report experiencing moderate or severe symptoms of depression, the University Record article said. The 2024-25 study, based at UM and including responses from more than 84,000 students across 135 colleges and universities, found that about 32% of students report moderate to severe anxiety symptoms and 11% of students reported seriously considering suicide over the past year.

“I believe this pilot program has the potential to not only address the alarming rates of stress, depression and anxiety among our students, but to deliver on our core promise as a liberal arts and sciences college,” Ceballo said in the University Record article.

Quincy Baxter, a UM graduate student, said she thought the pilot program sounded like a great way to support students struggling with their mental health and appreciated that it put all first-semester freshmen on the same level.

"I think there's so many factors that impact people's mental health and their ability to focus and do schoolwork and show up to classes," Baxter said. "Especially for freshmen, it's their first year not at home, and there's so many things going into the college experience."

Anjalika Dandamudi, a LSA student studying molecular, cellular and developmental biology, said the proposed program reminded her of another option she had her freshman year, which allowed students to drop a class up until the last day without any mark to their transcript.

"I thought that policy was nice because it still encouraged kids to take challenging classes and challenge themselves, but you didn't get a penalty while you were still adjusting to college as a freshman," Dandamudi said. "I think this policy is very similar to that."

Ceballo said the program was intended to “encourage first-year students to engage in intellectual exploration; to try a course in a field they know nothing about; to learn about something that does not come easily to them; to allow intrinsic motivations to launch personal and meaningful academic journeys; and to embrace the joy of learning.”

Dandamudi said she had a good first semester her freshman year. Although the pilot program probably wouldn't have helped her, she said she thought it would alleviate a lot of stress students felt in the first few weeks of college.

"In retrospect, I had a good first semester of my freshman year," Dandamudi said. "Knowing that, I feel like I wouldn't want to do this. But going into being a freshman, there's a lot of anxiety that comes with taking college classes. They're definitely more difficult than high school. So I think if I could put myself back to how I felt before I started, it (the program) would probably help alleviate some of the anxiety that came with starting classes."

'Wrong answer' to address mental health, critics argue

Lena Epstein, another Republican candidate from Oakland County for the UM board, said she believed hiding grades wasn't the best way to support their mental health.

"Every student's mental health matters, and the pressure on first-year students is real," Epstein said in an emailed statement. "But covering a whole semester of grades is the wrong answer. A transcript should tell the truth, and students who earn A's deserve to have them counted. If first-year students are struggling, the answer is better advising and real mental health care, not less information."

Two potential university students, Bethany Lapham and Braden Brouwer, said they wouldn't be in favor of a program like that. Neither said it would help them and instead would prevent any good grades they got their first semesters from counting in their final transcript.

"I don't like that you have to be opted in," said Brouwer, a 15-year-old from Grand Rapids who was visiting campus with Lapham and their mothers. "I think it would make more sense if it was a choice."

Lapham, a 17-year-old from Livonia, agreed and added that she likely wouldn't need it.

Lapham's mom, Carrie, said she wouldn't be in favor of such a program either and believed that sometimes a hard transition was necessary to give students a "kick in the pants" to work harder for the rigor a UM education required.

Several Republican Michigan lawmakers weighed in on the proposal. Michigan GOP Party Chair and State Sen. Jim Runestad of White Lake posted a sarcastic message to X.

"Thank God the University of Michigan is protecting the poor babies," Runestad wrote. " ... Because apparently the real crisis is expecting 18-year-olds to handle actual grades."

Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, the chair of the Michigan House Appropriation Committee that has lowered state funding to universities, said she was "very surprised" the university was deciding to do this.

"Freshman students need to know where they stand, and parents need to know too," Bollin said.

The college said that under the proposed program, the university will retain internal records of the grades LSA first-year students earn during their first semester for purposes of compliance, academic advising, academic awards and scholarships, and for students’ use as they apply for internships, other majors or other academic and professional opportunities.

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