The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has put its plan to shield first-semester grades from student transcripts on hold, less than two months after announcing it.

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts posted an update to its website Monday, Sept. 28, saying the first-semester grade-covering pilot program has been paused. University leadership requested the pause "to allow further input, analysis, and discussion," the update said.

The pilot had been scheduled to launch in fall 2027. Under the plan, all first-year LSA students would have had their grades automatically displayed as pass or no credit on external transcripts. Students would still have received letter grades and instructor feedback, but those marks would not have appeared on transcripts or factored into GPAs. LSA accounts for more than half of undergraduate enrollment on the Ann Arbor campus. For context, nearly 5,000 students entered LSA in fall 2026, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Tim McKay told Bridge Michigan.

The pause comes after faculty members publicly raised concerns about how the program was communicated and developed.

At a Monday, Sept. 14 meeting of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, research scientist Michael Schubnell said most LSA faculty learned about the policy through an email and expressed surprise. "There certainly has not been a major request to our faculty to participate in the discussion," Schubnell told the committee, according to The Michigan Daily.

SACUA Chair Kentaro Toyama raised unresolved questions at the same meeting, including whether covered grades would still count toward GPA requirements for certain majors within the university.

The faculty concerns stand in contrast to earlier assurances from LSA Dean Rosario Ceballo. In an LSA news article published earlier this year, Ceballo said the program would not be built "in isolation" and committed to working with colleagues across the college and the broader university community.

The program's stated goals included curbing stress and mental health struggles among first-year students and encouraging academic exploration. Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Tim McKay told Bridge Michigan in an Aug. 26 article that the program aimed to give students a safe space to adjust to the demands of a U-M education, rather than face permanent consequences during their first semester.

The U-M Office of Public Affairs also confirmed the pause on Sept. 28, using identical language to the LSA update. The Public Affairs page also links to a Sept. 28 message from U-M President Domenico Grasso to LSA leadership regarding the pause.

The program drew national criticism over academic rigor and grade inflation concerns after its Aug. 5 announcement, The Michigan Daily reported. Peer institutions including MIT, Caltech, Swarthmore and Wellesley run similar programs.

No date has been set for the program's review or reinstatement.