CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Harvard College faculty voted to cap the share of A grades awarded in each undergraduate class at 24%, with the new system taking effect in the fall of 2027. The first of three proposals limiting top grades passed by a vote of 458 to 201.

Under a "20 plus four" formula, no more than 24 students in a class of 100 undergraduates will receive an A grade. Faculty also approved a separate proposal to use average percentile rankings rather than grade point average when assigning internal awards and honors. A third proposal, which would have allowed courses graded as unsatisfactory, satisfactory, and satisfactory-plus to petition to opt out of the A grade cap, was rejected.

The votes followed a report sent to Harvard faculty and undergraduates in October 2025. The report found that more than 60% of grades awarded to Harvard undergraduates were As, compared with 25% two decades earlier. The report described the existing evaluation system as one that was not performing the key functions of grading and concluded that the grading system was damaging the academic culture of the College.

Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education, said A grade inflation had necessitated reforms to restore the integrity of the college's grading and return its academic culture to its previous state. She called the faculty vote an important step toward repairing the grading system and said the decision would strengthen Harvard's academic culture and encourage other institutions to address similar questions with rigor and courage.

The subcommittee that drafted the proposals said the A grade cap would restore the value of a Harvard transcript as an official academic record. "This matters for our students above all," the subcommittee wrote. "An A will once again be what Harvard's guidelines have long said it is: a mark of extraordinary distinction."

In a February 2025 survey, nearly 85% of student respondents said they disapproved of the proposals.