AMHERST — Hampshire College will close at the end of the calendar year, bringing to an end an institution that enrolled its first students in 1970.
“This is an extremely painful, deeply sad day for our students, a disruption to their academic journey,” President Jennifer Chrisler said in a phone interview Tuesday morning, just hours after the closing announcement was made public.
Chrisler said the closing also has a terrible impact on the college’s 250 employees, and a likely significant effect on the economy for both the town and region.
“This is an incredibly painful moment for the Hampshire community, and we are doing everything to support our students in completing their studies and assist our faculty and staff in navigating what comes next,” Chrisler said.
Trustees on Sunday voted to permanently shutter the campus when the fall semester is over, according to a letter sent to the college community by Chrisler, Trustees Chair Jose Fuentes and Trustees Chair-elect Elle Chan.
The letter, disseminated at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday, outlines what are described as “several realities” that prompted the decision.
“The college no longer has the resources to sustain full operations and meet our regulatory responsibilities,” the letter states. “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 closure announcement, made to students about an hour before the community letter went out, comes seven years after the college explored a possible higher-education merger, and then didn’t admit an incoming class in fall 2019.
Last month, the college was warned that it could be placed on probation or have its accreditation withdrawn if it was unable to prove a form of viability to the New England Commission of Higher Education at its meeting in June.
The letter from the college leaders references how the Hampshire community gave a powerful mandate in 2019 to maintain independence and remain true to Hampshire’s deepest-held values: “Since then, we have all worked together toward those goals, facing daunting challenges with the ingenuity and resolve that define the best of what happens here. We left no stone unturned, no solution unexplored and made many sacrifices along the way.”
For Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman, who is a graduate of Hampshire, the closing of the college illustrates the challenges for small, liberal arts colleges in New England, with fewer college-age students available to enroll.
“Our first thought goes to the students who are losing their academic community and their friends,” Bockelman said.
But he said he also feels for the more than 200 people who will be losing their jobs, many of whom live in town. The college is not only one of the town’s largest employers, but also one of its biggest users of water and sewer.
Bockelman said the town has offered the college any support needed and is in close contact with its leadership team.
He noted that the college was willed into existence by the other area colleges beginning in 1965 to address educational challenges, leading to Hampshire becoming a pioneer in individualized education, where students can design their own courses, as well as pursue interdisciplinary studies.
“This is losing an iconic institution that has helped frame the Pioneer Valley and the Five College area,” Bockelman said.
Ken Rosenthal, who served as the college’s interim president in 2019, was on campus throughout the morning and early afternoon, attending a campuswide gathering at the Robert Crown Center. There, he said he saw a combination of tears and smiles, with recognition for the success of the experimental model where students didn’t get grades or class ranks.
“This is a closure of the Hampshire College we know,” Rosenthal said. “As hard as it is to recognize at this time, Hampshire this morning had sadness and great pride in what it’s been able to do in higher education.”
Solvency efforts unsuccessful
The decision means that the efforts to keep the college solvent, through enrollment growth, debt refinancing and land development, were unsuccessful, even though there has been a tremendous amount of fundraising, or around $55 million, in the Change in the Making campaign.
One factor was that enrollment growth momentum had not been maintained, with the overall number of students dropping from 842 in fall 2024 to 747 in fall 2025, an 11% decline.
Second, the sale of a parcel for a mixed-use development at Atkins corner fell through following concerns from nearby residents about the scale of the project, as well as town permitting boards in Amherst concerned about the impact on wetlands.
Third, the college has been unable to refinance its $21 million bond debt, with an upcoming tender date of September 2026. Finally, the college has a declining unrestricted endowment that has been used to support operations.
Even with the announcement, commencement for eligible graduates will be held on May 16, with a second ceremony planned for those who complete their degrees in the fall.
The college is working with the state’s Department of Higher Education and the New England Commission of Higher Education on “teach-out planning” that includes two pathways for currently enrolled students.
Division III, or final year students, will be eligible to complete their degrees at Hampshire through the end of the year, with campus housing and support services remaining available. Division I and II, who are first through third year students, will receive individualized advising and access to transfer pathways at partner institutions, including Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts, as well as Bennington College, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Prescott College.
Because the college is initially focusing on people, Chrisler said it is increasing hours of the counseling center so students understand their paths, and there will be dedicated meetings with faculty to offer students help in completing the semester successfully.
A transfer partnership fair will take place on April 20.
Hampshire College will assist departing faculty and staff with information, resources and support as they navigate their transition, with some staying on during the close-out of campus operations. Chrisler describes how they will leave in waves, depending on the role they play and how many are needed.
Students who had been accepted to the college this fall are having their deposits returned, with an anticipation they will be able to choose to attend their second choices.
To answer questions and provide detailed information about next steps, the college has developed a website for students, faculty and staff, as well as the public.
Profound loss
Though the actual vote by trustees will not be disclosed, Fuentes said the decision was made only after exploring every possible alternative.
“Nearly every trustee is an alum, and we share in the community’s heartbreak. The financial realities we face — declining enrollment, the weight of longstanding debt and stalled progress on land development — left us no other responsible path,” Fuentes said. “Our commitment now is to ensure that every student, employee and member of this community is treated with the care and respect they deserve.”
Two of those who graduated who have gained some level of fame are Stonyfield Organic founder Gary Hirshberg and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who spearheaded the capital campaign. The college released statements from both.
“Hampshire didn’t just educate me, it shaped how I think about risk, creativity and innovation, and gave me the courage to challenge conventional wisdom to forge new solutions,” Hirshberg said. He praised the leadership but understood the problems of having relatively young alumni and an underdeveloped endowment. “Hampshire will live on through the countless innovative business, artistic, and educational enterprises and careers that this wonderful school inspired.”
“This is an incalculable loss, the reverberations of which will be felt in ways none of us can imagine, but at the same time I know that Hampshire’s ethos and probing way of seeing the world doesn’t disappear when a campus goes quiet,” Burns said. “The thousands of lives transformed by this miraculous, improbable place will carry its revolutionarily generative spirit forward for generations to come.”
Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott wrote a letter to his campus about how Hampshire had a pathbreaking approach to interdisciplinary teaching and research, and an abiding commitment to environmental sustainability, leaving a lasting impact on how faculty teach and students learn at every undergraduate institution.
“The closure of Hampshire will be a profound loss not only to our region and to the Five Colleges, but to anyone who cares about higher education,” Elliott wrote. “I know it will be especially painful news to those of you who have studied on Hampshire’s campus, who have worked closely with Hampshire’s students, or who have partnered with extraordinarily talented Hampshire faculty and staff.”
In a similar way, University of Massachusetts Chancellor Javier A. Reyes let his campus know about the closing.
“Hampshire College has served as a trailblazer in redefining and reinventing a modern liberal arts education,” Reyes wrote. “Its reputation and influence have spread far and wide since its founding more than 60 years ago.”
In a statement Tuesday, Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega said the news that Hampshire College will close at the end of this calendar year comes after more than five decades of the college providing students with a “unique, interdisciplinary, self-directed liberal arts education that will undoubtedly have a lasting impact.”
“The Department of Higher Education has been in close contact with President Chrisler and her leadership team, and we share a commitment to supporting the best interests of students, faculty and staff,” Ortega said. “We recognize how deeply impactful this closure is for the entire Hampshire community, especially for students who must now determine their path forward. We urge students to make full use of the supports that Hampshire is offering to guide those decisions and find the best path to completing their academic journey.”
The website providing additional information is at hampshire.edu/closure-information, and the college statement adds that the timing of the decision “assures that we can carefully steward 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.”
The 822 acres of the campus are surrounded by a cultural village at the perimeter that features the Yiddish Book Center, the Eric Carle Museum and the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, which are all on their own parcels.
Cultural impact
Bockelman said the cultural impact on the region from Hampshire alumni is important to understand. Businesses founded or owned by alumni include the Iron Horse in Northampton, created by Jordi Herold in 1979; Black Sheep Deli, opened by Nick Seamon in 1986; Amherst Books, founded by Nat Herold; Wright Builders, founded by Jonathan Wright; and Herrell’s Ice Cream, run by Judy Herrell.
“They came because of Hampshire, and changed the way the valley looked,” Bockelman said.
Arriving at Hampshire from Cincinnati, Bockelman said he met his lifelong partner there and appreciates how it changed the way he looks at the world, but even more so how Hampshire has impacted the town for the better.
Chrisler said successfully supporting students and faculty is happening, and what has come through over the past several years, during the capital campaign and the continued efforts to create a sustainable educational model, is how present Hampshire alumni are across western Massachusetts.
“We know this as particularly poignant moment,” Chrisler said, “and the loss of a place people know and love.”
