Maybe the blue and maize want to cement their spot as the public ivy. Maybe the Ivies aren’t all they used to be.

The University of Michigan will pilot a pass-fail grading system for incoming freshmen in the schools of literature, science and the arts. The program, which resembles those used at MIT and Caltech, intends to ease mental health struggles for incoming freshmen.

A noble cause to be sure. But, they do say the road to the underworld is paved with good intentions.

The mental health of students is in an alarming place.

A 2026 study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders suggests that student mental health has plummeted in the past decades. The most dramatic decreases were seen in the late 2010s and later.

A survey by the Mayo Clinic found that approximately 44% of college students experienced severe depression symptoms over the period of the calendar year.

However, both studies suggest a decline in mental health as students progress through school, as opposed to the first semester of the first year.

Michigan says the new grading style will enable students freer intellectual exploration and lower overall stress levels of the freshman student body. The university believes this change will dramatically reduce freshman mental health crises.

While addressing student mental health is an important responsibility of any respected university, letter grades seem like a very odd place to start.

The policy will be enforced throughout all stated schools. Students cannot opt out.

U of M cites concerns that students who opted in would be assumed to have worse marks than those who attempt standard letter grading.

A 2025 study found that, compared to standard letter grading, a higher percentage of medical students failed exams when administered in a pass-fail graded classroom.

Other studies have suggested that decreases in academic rigor brought about by the change in grading may be less dramatic. It is, at best, a highly contentious issue, with a group of incoming freshmen as lab rats.

In delaying standard tiered grading to later in education, the university system may also add to the stress experienced by upperclassmen. Worrying about grad school, finances, and the gradual mounting of adult responsibilities is enough stress without having to worry about being reintroduced to the harsh cold grip of tiered grading.

Getting a D on an exam is enough to ruin anyone’s mental health for at least a day. But that bad day is, in its own right, a learning experience. It encourages better studying habits, resolve and a burning passion to not end up in the same spot again.

Opening a class and seeing a B- grade should make you itchy. The minus is there to push one to do a little bit better. It was never there for fun.

College is supposed to be an uncomfortable adjustment. Many students roll into freshman dorm not knowing how to do their own laundry, let alone how to manage an adult work and school schedule at the same time.

Perhaps Michigan’s oldest university is doing its students a disservice in spreading out the learning curve. Time will tell.