Despite scholarly alignments between user experience (UX) principles and contract grading, further accounts and studies of grading in UX courses are needed. My self-study of a UX course found that labor-based contract grading helped de-center instructor and peer evaluation and foreground user, client, and stakeholder priorities in community-engaged work, and that it supported engagement in a process of connected UX activities. However, I was also challenged to accommodate flexible UX processes and develop a course engagement model that maximized access to UX process opportunities. I conclude with a heuristic to guide the design of grading models for UX courses.