Harvard College professors will be able to award A’s to only 20% of undergraduate students per class, plus four more beginning in the fall of 2027.

In 712 Harvard classes last year, every undergraduate received an A. On May 20, Harvard announced its faculty voted 458 to 201 to change their grading policy as one provision of an initiative to address grade inflation.

An A is now the most common grade in American classrooms, according to the College Board. 

Harvard's decision comes amid the large debate over so-called "grade inflation."

One side argues the percentage of A's being given is, in fact, declining grading rigor. Others say educators are responding to students', parents' and administrators' demand for higher grades, according to the National Education Association.

The Harvard faculty vote follows disproportionate grade inflation that has moved across the college in recent years, according to The Harvard Crimson. 

About 78% of students in Arts and Humanities courses received A’s last year, as The Crimson reports. In the Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 57% and 56% of students received A’s, respectively. Social Science classes awarded 62% of students A’s.

Harvard faculty approved a plan, in another grade inflation-related provision, to calculate internal college honors and prizes using students’ average percentile rank rather than grade-point average, according to Harvard Magazine. They voted against the third provision that would have allowed professors to award a “satisfactory plus” grade to courses that opted out of the grading cap.

With the cap, a 10-person seminar could give six A’s, and a 200-person lecture could give 44.