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When officials at Hampshire College, a small liberal arts college in western Massachusetts, sat down seven years ago to discuss solutions to their financial problems, they decided on the number $60 million. That was what the college needed to survive. Hampshire, which had been teetering toward closure for years, launched the “Change in the Making” campaign. The campaign aimed to stabilize the college’s financial spiral, secure its future survival, and put the institution on more sustainable long-term footing by rebuilding its enrollment and mobilizing donors. They predicted that by raising $60 million, the college would be able to survive.
They were wrong. The college would not survive.
Despite raising $55 million of their goal, the college announced on April 14 that it would be closing by the end of 2026. Unable to curb falls in enrollment, its high dependency on tuition revenue, and substantial debt, the college said closure was the only viable option. The decision was made amid an increasingly difficult financial landscape in higher education.
“Since 2019, Hampshire College has been navigating both the financial headwinds affecting small, liberal arts colleges, including declining enrollment, rising costs, and an unstable funding environment,” said the college in a recent press release.
These challenges were compounded by Hampshire’s heavy reliance on tuition revenue, which made the college’s declining enrollment financially untenable.
President Chrisler and the Hampshire Board of Trustees said efforts to increase enrollment, refinance debt, and generate revenue through land sales fell “far short” of what was needed.
The college decided now was the time to make the decision, allowing students to make necessary preparations ahead of the fall semester. For many Hampshire students, that looks like either completing their degrees by the end of the fall or transferring to one of many partner institutions, including Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and UMass Amherst, among others.
Hampshire officials say that the decision to close the college came after exhausting all possible alternatives.
“The financial realities we face: declining enrollment, the weight of long-standing debt, and stalled progress on land development left us no other responsible path. Our commitment now is to ensure that every student, employee, and member of this community is treated with the care and respect they deserve,” said Hampshire board chair Jose Fuentes in a statement.
These problems are not exclusive to Hampshire. According to the Huron Consulting Group, projections now show that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities are at risk of closing or merging over the next decade. That is more than 25%.
“The problem is we have too many seats in too many classrooms and not enough prospective students to fill them. Over the next decade, we’re going through a very painful but necessary rebalancing in supply and demand,” explained Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron.
The struggle to fill classes reflects the falling birth rates in the U.S. since 2007. Dubbed the “demographic cliff”, increasingly fewer students will be graduating from high school over the next couple of decades, posing serious challenges for colleges and universities across the country.
Speaking on the Hampshire closure and the current financial landscape in higher education, Andrea Chapdelaine, President of Connecticut College, told The College Voice:
“We are deeply saddened by the closure of Hampshire College, which has been an important and innovative voice in higher education. Its loss reflects challenges across the sector, including demographic shifts, declining enrollment, and rising costs. At Conn, we are fully aware of these challenges facing higher education, and are taking critical steps to ensure Conn remains financially strong.”
Reaffirming Conn’s mission, she stressed the importance of providing an “individualized, rigorous liberal arts education that helps students connect what they learn to the world around them. Through close mentorship, interdisciplinary study, and opportunities for experiential learning, our students graduate prepared not only for their careers but to ‘put the liberal arts in action as citizens in a global society.’ That clarity of purpose gives us confidence in Conn’s future.”
President Chapdelaine, who grew up in western Massachusetts, is acutely aware of the local impact of Hampshire’s closure. Its loss will not only be felt by its students and faculty, but also by the surrounding community, which has long been tied to the college.
“The closure of Hampshire College is a sobering moment for higher education and a reminder of the pressures many institutions are facing,” added Carey Cseszko, Associate Vice President of Finance at Connecticut College.
“At Conn, we are responding with a clear and disciplined approach to how we use our resources.” This involves focusing resources on core priorities to “not only sustain Conn, but strengthen it for the long term.”
Yet, while institutions like Conn focus on long-term sustainability and planning, others are forced to grapple with the immediate reality of closure.
For Hampshire alumni, the closure marks not just the loss of an institution but also a distinct educational philosophy that has been shaping students for nearly 60 years. Andrew Shepard ‘20 at Hampshire told The College Voice:
“I wouldn’t be who or where I am today if it weren’t for Hampshire. Hampshire pushed its students to carve their own educational path and to question everything. While I had always hoped that Hampshire would find a pathway to financial stability while maintaining independence, I have realized these past few weeks that Hampshire isn’t an institution, but a community of incredible students, faculty, and staff from the past 60 years who will continue to make an impact. I am proud to be a part of that legacy.”
