After 61 years of existence, the Hampshire College Board of Trustees has voted to permanently close Hampshire College after the fall 2026 semester amid financial struggles and a failure to substantially increase enrollment.
Hampshire College President Jennifer Chrisler and members of the college’s Board of Trustees announced the decision to faculty and students in an email on Tuesday morning.
In a tearful address to faculty, staff and students in the campus’ Robert Crown Center gymnasium on Tuesday, Chrisler said that every student who is currently enrolled will have the option of completing their degree or finding a pathway to transfer, and that employment transition support would be offered to faculty and staff.
“What I can tell you without equivocation is this: the board made this decision because we believed it was the most responsible thing that we could do for our students,” Chrisler said in her address.
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college and the smallest in the Five College Consortium. It is known for having its students design their own personal curricular path rather than following traditional undergraduate majors, and for using written evaluations instead of numerical grades.
UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes announced in a statement today that the university will waive application fees for Hampshire College students seeking to transfer to UMass, and that the university is in the process of establishing timelines and next steps for these students. The university will also become the custodian of Hampshire student records.
Other partner institutions collaborating with Hampshire College to offer students transfer pathways include Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts, Bennington College in Vermont and Prescott College in Arizona.
The Hampshire College community reacted to the closure decision with dismay.
“I think it’s a dark day for higher education in America. There’s a little bit of mourning associated with that,” Noah Romero, an assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous studies at Hampshire, said.
Romero got the news this morning, right before teaching his 9 a.m. course.
The audience gave a standing ovation when President Chrisler thanked the faculty and staff. (Alexandra Rowe)
“Losing my appointment, losing my affiliation is going to affect a lot of the projects that I had ongoing, including a large grant from the [National Science Foundation], a book project. All of those things are going to be up in the air,” Romero said.
Students across campus comforted one another and shed tears over the decision.
“Everybody’s basically been crying all morning and very upset,” Maddie Leoncini, a first-year student studying economics with a focus in journalism and a marketing bias, said.
Instead of a traditional four-year path, Hampshire College students complete three “Divisions,” with Divisions I and III taking up to one year each and Division II taking up to two years.
While the college announced that cooperating colleges “will work with our students to ensure transfer [of] the maximum credits possible and thereby ensure timely degree completion,” it is unclear how each partner institution will count class credits.
The transfer pathway option has placed the students who must transfer in a difficult position.
“They gave a list of colleges that said that we could have credit catch-up opportunities, which means that we wouldn’t be technical juniors next year because of how it is,” Leoncini said. “We’d have to pay more tuition, and we wouldn’t get guaranteed housing anywhere.”
The closure webpage also states that “due to the unique financial aid programs across the institutions accepting transfers from Hampshire, students will apply directly with their future college for financial aid. Our financial aid counseling team can assist with this process.”
“If they could have told us, even a month ago, we would have been able to apply to colleges in the correct way. Now we’re scrambling and we’re stressing,” Leoncini said.
“I’m paying four grand per year. I can’t afford to pay more than that,” Zoe Burnell, a first-year student pursuing art therapy said. Despite Burnell’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application, she said the other schools she applied to two years ago did not give her any aid.
“I’m really worried about not being able to afford to continue school after this,” Burnell said.
Hampshire is also offering a “completion pathway” or “teach-out” allowing Division III students, generally in their final semesters, to continue through fall 2026 to finish their independent projects. Division III students who do not expect to complete their studies in one semester can pursue transferring.
The teach out and closure plans must come before the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) for approval, which should happen this month, according to Lawrence M. Schall, president of the commission.
For students who wish to remain and graduate in fall 2026, Hampshire asks for confirmation of that decision by April 30. The financial aid office is also reviewing aid for fall 2026.
“Hampshire will remain accredited throughout the process of closure,” Schall said.
Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega said the Department of Higher Education (DHE) has been working closely with Chrisler and her team.
“We recognize how deeply impactful this closure is for the entire Hampshire community, especially for students who must now determine their path forward,” Ortega said. “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.”
Hampshire will host a “transfer resources fair” before the end of the spring semester and commencement will remain on May 16, 2026. The college will host a “streamlined Commencement ceremony” in December 2026 for students who choose to finish their studies at Hampshire.
For recently accepted students, Hampshire will refund all deposits.
In March, the NECHE considered withdrawing Hampshire College’s accreditation due to financial instability and declining enrollment. According to the commission, Hampshire College’s enrollment “dropped from 842 in Fall 2024 to 747 in Fall 2025.”
Hampshire’s financial audits for 2023, 2024 and 2025 indicated vulnerability as reported in Higher Ed Dive.
“I wish that they had just been more transparent with the financial instability of the college,” Burnell said.
As the Hampshire community grappled with the news, Chrisler vowed to continue supporting the college until its closure.
“From now until the last day Hampshire operates as a college, I will spend every ounce of what I have making sure that this place ends the way that it lived, with integrity and with care and with belief in the people who are its heart,” Chrisler said.
Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected], and Alexandra Rowe can be reached at [email protected].
