Harvard University faculty voted Wednesday to cap the number of A grades awarded to undergraduate students as the university moves to address grade inflation and restore academic standards.
Starting in fall 2027, courses will limit A grades to 20% of enrollment, plus up to four additional A grades per class. Faculty members approved the proposal by a 458-201 vote after months of debate across town halls, departmental meetings and faculty discussions.
Faculty also approved a separate 498-157 proposal to calculate internal honors and prizes using students' average percentile rank instead of grade-point average. However, they rejected a proposal allowing instructors to award "satisfactory-plus" grades in courses opting out of the cap.
An internal report released last October found that A grades represented 60% of undergraduate letter grades in 2025, up from 24% in 2005.
Grade Inflation Debate
Faculty subcommittee members Stuart Shieber, Alisha Holland, Joshua Greene and Paulina Alberto said the reforms would help restore meaning to Harvard grades.
"An A will once again be what Harvard's guidelines have long said it is: a mark of extraordinary distinction," the committee wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh called the vote "an important step" toward strengthening Harvard's academic culture.
The university said grade inflation had encouraged students to pursue large survey classes with abundant A grades while making many students view an A-minus as a poor result.
Hiring Pressure In AI Era
The debate comes as companies increasingly rethink traditional academic performance metrics in the AI era.
Earlier this year, McKinsey & Company CEO Bob Sternfels said artificial intelligence analysis showed employers may have focused too heavily on "perfect marks" instead of resilience and adaptability.
This week, executives from WeWork and Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) also warned that AI is putting growing pressure on entry-level hiring for Gen Z workers as companies increasingly prioritize AI-skilled labor.
Stephanie Burt, professor of English, supported the reforms but said Harvard grades had become "almost unintelligible" to employers and graduate schools because of a "problem of collective action." Burt also said the pressures disproportionately affected non-tenured faculty.
A February survey conducted by the Harvard Undergraduate Association found that 85% of respondents opposed the grading cap. Harvard said the policy will be reviewed after three years through the regular faculty legislative process.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by a Benzinga editor.
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