Hampshire College to Close Permanently at Year’s End
Photo: hampshire.edu
Hampshire College President Jennifer Chrilser announced this morning (3/14/26) that the Hampshire College Board of Trustees voted to permanently close the college at the end of the Fall 2026 term. Hampshire has been struggling for several years to remain financially viable and to recover from a dramatic drop in enrollment when it decided not to admit an incoming class in the Fall of 2019. Hampshire’s accreditor, The New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE), announced in June during its annual review of Hampshire, that the college must prove it is sustainable (see also here and here). A recent audit reported that Hampshire had over $20 million in debt and an operating deficit of $3.7 million in 2025.
In an email to the Hampshire Community, Chrisler said, “Despite this Herculean effort, the financial pressures on the college’s operations have become increasingly complex, compounded by shifting external factors. We are faced with the clear, heartbreaking reality that progress on each of these three key factors has fallen far short of what we had hoped.”
Hampshire had been following a five-year sustainability plan to revive enrollments and secure financial stability after it almost closed in 2019, with a goal to increase enrollment, raise $60 million (it raised $55 million), and raise revenue by selling off some of the school’s land.
The entire campus community was invited to a community gathering today (3/14/26) at noon in the Robert Crown Center to hear directly from President Chrisler and Board Chair Fuentes, followed by smaller-group conversations with trustees and college leadership.
In her email, Chrisler, elaborated on the decision:
“The rationale behind this painful vote reflects several realities. The College no longer has the resources to sustain full operations and meet our regulatory responsibilities. The inability to substantially grow enrollment would mean extraordinary cuts to our operating budgets to educate the student body we can reasonably anticipate. Additionally, the degree of short-term debt tied to our land assets means that even a favorable sale would not change our long-term financial trajectory given current enrollment.”
“The timing of this decision assures that we can leverage the institution’s limited financial resources to facilitate a transition that allows our current students to complete their undergraduate education (either here or at a partner institution), is respectful of our faculty and staff, maintains the value of a Hampshire College degree, and honors the lasting legacy of Hampshire and its alumni. “
Addressing the concerns of Hampshire students Chrisler said,
“Every day we’ve spent as leaders at Hampshire has shown us the importance of what you do here. We know this is an incredible disruption to the trajectory you had planned for your college experience, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to support you in completing your studies.”
“The College is working with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) on teach-out plans that would prioritize students’ academic progress. That planning, subject to approval, includes two pathways: Division III Completion and Transfer.”
“The Completion Pathway allows Division III students to complete their degrees at Hampshire College. We are using summer field study to prepare students to complete their independent Div III project during the Fall 2026 semester. Students completing their degree with us will have campus housing and supports available for the fall semester.”
“The Center for Academic Support and Advising (CASA) will review the standing of advanced Division II students to identify those who may be eligible for an accelerated path to degree completion at Hampshire by December 2026.”
She also noted that Hampshire has transfer agreements in place with a number of partner institutions include the other four colleges in the Five College Consortium, who will work with Hampshire students to facilitate the transfer process.
She closed with:
“Hampshire’s board made its decision only after exploring every possible alternative. Nearly every trustee is an alum, and we share in the community’s heartbreak. Yet we know that you will come together, as you always do, to support each other and take much-deserved pride in what makes this college unlike any other.”
“Since its founding in 1965, Hampshire College has been home to a group of deeply curious, creative people who have radically reimagined the liberal arts, using a singular, distinctive model designed to change and respond to the most pressing issues facing society. We remain unwavering in our belief that the experience a Hampshire College education provides is exactly what the world needs. For more than five decades, our remarkable students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends have brought the College’s motto, “To Know Is Not Enough,” to life. We are committed to preserving this profound legacy and to ensuring that the story of Hampshire’s unique and audacious vision will continue to serve as an inspiration to bold, iconoclastic thinkers well into the future.”
Today’s headline
Hampshire College Closing in 2027
should give great pause to those who seek yet more local public funding for the Jones Library expansion.
The immediate impact of an entire college campus in Amherst being vacated will be like a huge tsunami hitting our town .
And the long-term impact…?!
… Perhaps the campus, given America’s aging demographics, could eventually “evolve” into a life-long-learning center?
But in this instance, the “evolution” is so abrupt, and given the long history of failure on that front, it will be a challenge….
Sad.
I’m a Spring 74 alum & not sure I would have been able to thrive anywhere else.
It’s not just Hampshire College.
Last week’s Amherst Bulletin reported that UMass has reduced graduate admissions by 40%/50% for this fall, on top of a 21% reduction last fall.
While the union points out that this means that they’ll be fewer TA’s to teach classes, what no one is asking is if that’ll be a problem. In other words, does UMass anticipate having a whole lot less freshman next fall — and in the falls to come?
As I’ve been saying for more than a decade now, the babies not born in 2008 won’t be going to college this fall, and the birth deficit continues for at least another decade. By this point, UMass knows how many qualified applicants it will have for its freshman class, and remember there is law passed circa 1993 that set minimum acceptance standards so that they can’t take everyone, which they did in the early 90s.
UMass is also likely expecting fewer applications in the following years from now, this is simple demographics, simple statistics, and the field of enrollment management. Remember too that while 70% of high school graduates went to college in 2016, only 61% went in 2023, and I anticipate that percentage to drop further.
So what does it say if UMass thinks it’s only going to need half (or less) of the TA’s it needed two years ago? The only thing I can think of is that it doesn’t need the sections that those TAs would have taught because it doesn’t have the bodies to fill the seats.
It is possible that UMass may have an incoming class considerably smaller than this years. UMass is going to fill its dorms, the underwriting of the bonds they’ve taken out require it to do so, and if needed, they will require upperclassman to live on campus. (They almost did this in 1991, I was at meetings where this was discussed.)
I honestly thought that Hampshire was going to make it. The fact it didn’t may be the canary in the coal mine as to what is coming this fall….
What sad news. Hampshire has played a part in defining both our town and our era these past 55 years. For much of that time it has played a part in my life, either when friends and family members were studying or working there, or when I attended memorable events, like the retirement farewell to beloved professor Eqbal Ahmad in 1997, followed much too soon by the memorial tribute to him in 1999. I took my son to Hampshire to hear Edward Said speak, and took a busload of students there to hear Arundhati Roy deliver the Eqbal Ahmad lecture. Just last week I attended a screening of Palestinian American Charien Dabis’s All That’s Left of You (2025), as part of the Liberation Watch Series, run by a Hampshire professor.
Hampshire drew exceptional students, who would not be dictated to by anyone, and gave them the space and support to shape their own course of study.
I knew the college had suffered a crisis, but had thought that it was making a remarkable comeback. What a loss! Condolences to the whole Hampshire family. We will all be there poorer for its closing.
As a Hampshire College alum, class of 1979, this news is heartbreaking. As someone who has also been part of the Amherst community since that same year, I want to highlight a less visible but deeply important impact this loss will have on the Pioneer Valley over time.
The number of beloved, influential businesses founded by Hampshire graduates is remarkable, Iron Horse, Black Sheep Deli, Amherst Books, Wright Builders, Herrell’s Ice Cream, The Alvah Stone, Dreamhouse, Woodnote Coffee Company, Local Eats, Florence Pie Bar, The Kitchen Garden Farm, and Queens Greens, among many others. These are not just businesses, they are part of the fabric of our towns.
Beyond that, Hampshire alumni have played outsized roles in civic life, social justice work, and the creative culture of this region. They have helped shape the Valley’s identity through art, music, community organizing, and a spirit of innovation that is hard to quantify but easy to feel.
What we stand to lose is not just an institution, but a pipeline of people who have consistently contributed to making this place vibrant, thoughtful, and alive. The future may well be less colorful, less creative, and less connected without it.
Alas, the value of a liberal arts education is no longer appreciated because STEM Graduates can get better paying jobs until they are replaced by younger classes with knowledge of newer technologies. In the end Liberal Arts majors become the CEO’s data suggest.
Robin, add the Yiddish Book Center to your list. It is also a draw for tourism,
The demographic cliff is real,and plenty of education writers are predicting doom. But UMass Amherst and other flagship schools are more buffered than other institutions to withstand it. Here in MA, the brunt of the expected 15% decline in college enrollments is likely to be felt by the smaller state colleges and universities and perhaps the other campuses in the UMass system, and by the smaller, already financially struggling private colleges. But the flagship campus should remain a preferred destination with competitive admissions. UMass has seen an annual increase in both applications and admissions from 2015 to 2024 and held relatively steady for enrollments at its all-time highs in 2022 and 2024. When we hit the cliff, and the system shrinks, UMass Amherst Amherst is likely to remain a preferred destination.
Fall Term Applications Acceptances Enrolled
2025 53,047 31,758 5,293
2024 50,207 29,969 5,366
2023 50,345 29,070 5,259
2022 45,399 28,828 5,571
2021 42,446 27,808 4,836
2020 40,253 26,282 5,025
2019 42,085 26,832 5,731
2018 41,612 24,911 5,010
2017 41,922 24,102 4,714
2016 40,704 24,275 4,643
Umass Admissions Fact Sheets and Data Tables: https://www.umass.edu/uair/data/factsheets-data-tables#admissions