Harvard University Ends Grade Inflation, Will Give A Grades Only to the Top 20%

[The Financial News] Harvard University will strictly limit A grades for undergraduates to one in five students starting in the fall 2027 semester, in an effort to rein in runaway grade inflation.
On the 21st local time, The Washington Times reported that Harvard faculty approved the A-grade cap on the 20th by a vote of 458 to 201.
Beginning in the fall of 2027, A grades, excluding A-minus, will be limited to no more than 20% of students in every course. Professors will also be allowed to award up to four additional A grades at their discretion.
A subcommittee of the faculty committee that drafted the policy said in a statement, "This measure is above all for our students." It added, "From now on, an A at Harvard will become a true indicator of what a student has actually achieved, not only for the student but also for employers and graduate schools."
Faculty members also approved another measure, by a vote of 498 to 157, to replace the current grade-point average system with an in-house percentile ranking when deciding undergraduate graduation honors and Latin honors.
A third proposal, which sought to bypass the cap by introducing grades such as "satisfactory" and "excellent" instead of letter grades, was rejected by a vote of 364 to 292.

The reason Harvard took such a drastic step is severe grade inflation. According to a report released in October last year, A grades accounted for as much as 60% of all grades in Harvard's fall semester in the 2024-25 academic year. That was more than double the 25% recorded 20 years ago.
As a result, critics have repeatedly said Harvard has lost its ability to distinguish true excellence among high-achieving students, and concerns have grown that the value of a Harvard degree itself is declining. According to The Harvard Crimson, faculty briefly lowered the A-grade rate to 53% last fall, but that did not amount to a fundamental solution and ultimately led to this vote.
Students are strongly opposing the move. A survey of 800 students conducted by the Harvard Undergraduate Council found that 85% of respondents opposed the A-grade cap, while more than 72% objected to the introduction of percentile rankings.
Kerry Collins, editor-in-chief of the conservative campus outlet The Harvard Salient, criticized the change, saying it would become an arbitrary ranking system rather than a reward for excellence. She said, "This system does not tell students how well they have mastered a course, because the goal of education is turned into grade-cutting."
The reform comes as the Trump administration and senior Republican figures have criticized elite universities such as Harvard, saying they are biased toward political correctness rather than merit and hand out grades in exchange for liberal groupthink instead of ability.
Tim Walberg, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, welcomed the move in an email, saying, "It is encouraging that Harvard is finally beginning to take grade inflation seriously." He added, "Honest grading is the path to helping graduates acquire the skills they need to succeed in today's labor market."
Some in academia have questioned how effective the measure will be. Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of education history at the University of Pennsylvania, said, "If a course is rigorous and students meet the standard, then they should of course receive an A." He added, "The problem is that too many professors have made their classes far too easy."
Critics also say a vicious cycle has taken hold across the United States, with professors handing out grades to earn good teaching evaluations. Renita Coleman, a journalism professor at The University of Texas at Austin, said, "It has already been proven that high teaching evaluations are directly linked to high grades." She added, "Because those evaluations are tied to professors' salary increases, it is hard for faculty to be strict."

jjyoon@fnnews.com Yoon Jae-joon Reporter