The University will not alter its current grading policy despite persistent increases in the proportion of A-range grades, according to Dean of the College Michael Gordin. A December 2025 grading report revealed that 66.7 percent of grades in the 2024–25 academic year fell in the A-range, up from 47.9 percent in 2002–03.
In 2004, the University responded to grade inflation concerns by implementing nonbinding A-range caps at 35 percent of total grades. The policy was overturned in 2014 after an ad hoc committee found that the ceilings functioned as a de facto quota and contributed to a competitive campus climate.
At Harvard, an October 2025 report on grade inflation — which found and criticized that 60 percent of undergraduate grades were flat A’s — has prompted debate about mitigating grade inflation. A faculty committee proposed sweeping grade caps to effectively limit the number of A’s awarded to students, a plan that 85 percent of students opposed, according to a Harvard Undergraduate Association survey.
While debates at Harvard continued, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis revealed that efforts to curb grade inflation were also on the horizon in New Haven, Conn. In an interview with the Yale Daily News, Lewis said that Yale is monitoring grading policy changes at Harvard and Princeton and that he wanted an A at Yale to hold similar prestige to an A at peer institutions.
In contrast with Lewis, Gordin wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian that the University will not modify its grading practices in light of potential policy adjustments at Harvard and Yale.
“The fact that there is interest in Cambridge and New Haven to change their grading policies in light of their own data is a matter for those institutions to consider,” Gordin wrote. “We have no plans to do so here.”
Like its peer institutions, Princeton has faced significant grade inflation since its 2004 nonbinding grade cap policy was rescinded in 2014. The 2004 policy aimed to cap A-range grades at 35 percent for coursework and 55 percent for independent work.
From 2010–13, A-range grades constituted an average of 41.8 percent of all course grades. For the 2024–2025 academic year, that number had risen to 66.7 percent.
In addition to dramatic inflation of course grades, eight of the 10 largest departments at Princeton awarded B grades or higher to 94 percent of senior theses in the 2024–25 academic year, according to the December grading report.
At the December faculty meeting, Gordin briefly presented the report, expressing concerns about grade inflation. However, he reaffirmed that grading standards are determined by each department, not the University.
The report also claimed that the faculty’s use of A-plus grades “does not currently reflect the stated policy.”
“Rather than reserving the A+ for rare exceptional work, [some faculty] use the A+ to mark the top N% of performers in their class,” the report read.
In 2014, an ad hoc committee appointed by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 recommended revising the 2004 policy, noting that departments frequently misconstrued numerical grading targets as quotas and that students were largely dissatisfied with the grading system.
“Such targets are too often misinterpreted as quotas,” the 2014 recommendation report said. “They add a large element of stress to students’ lives, making them feel as though they are competing for a limited resource of A grades.”
In place of the 2004 policy, the report recommended that each department develop its own set of grading standards which would serve to level the standards across all the departments. The report notes that “standards are not the same as grades.”
“Standards are the evaluative rubrics departments and instructors develop to convey to students the specific expectations for their work and against which that work will be graded,” the report also reads. “Grades measure the extent to which students meet those expectations.”
The 2022–23 undergraduate grading report stated that the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing, at the time chaired by former Dean of the College Jill Dolan, would “explore the possibility of contextualizing grades on student transcripts.”
“Such a practice will make Princeton transcripts more meaningful to local and broader audiences,” the 2022–23 report read.
However, Gordin clarified to the ‘Prince’ that there are no plans to change grading policies at this time.
When asked when the University might revisit its policy should grade inflation persist, Gordin wrote, “I have no idea, as the future is uncertain.”
The next meeting of the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing will take place on Tuesday, March 17.
Kian Petlin is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from San Francisco and typically covers University administration and the state of higher education.
Nico David-Fox is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C., and often covers academics and the Undergraduate Student Government. He can be reached at nd0968[at]princeton.edu or news[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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