Liberal arts college Hampshire to shut down as enrollment tanks

Hampshire College, in Amherst, Mass., will shut down after the end of the fall 2026 term. The school has suffered under declining enrollment and amid an increased national perception that small, heavily leftist liberal arts schools are not providing a benefit to students. 99% of the students are receiving financial aid and the annual tuition cost is $60,000.

President Jennifer Chrisler and the Board of Trustees released a statement, saying that "the financial pressures on the College’s operations have become increasingly complex, compounded by shifting external factors." Those pressures include a drop in enrollment and a high level of debt. The school tried to sell off land, as well, in order to stave off what became inevitable, the school's closure. 

There are about 750 full time students at the school, and while the college was hopeful that they would increase enrollment, the 2025 fall enrollment numbers fell short of the 300-student goal by almost half. Hampshire boasts a $26.5 million endowment and an annual operating budget of $41.8 million. Nearly the entire student body receives financial aid and the average package is over $51,000. Students graduate with an average of $27,000 in student loan debt.

"We have long known that addressing these issues is essential to establishing a stable financial foundation, supporting long-term operations, and meeting regulatory requirements. 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," Chrisler said.

"As a result, the Board of Trustees voted to permanently close Hampshire College following the fall 2026 semester," Chrisler went on. "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 school is notoriously left-wing and offers extensive courses in critical theory. Notable course offerings include: Gender & Culture in Game Development, Wool, Freedom Dreams, Debates in History, The Politics of Pop Culture, Queer University Studies, The Virgin Mary (suggesting she is not Catholic), Indigenous Nihilism, Deviant Bodies, Critical Indigenous Studies, Beings Together (on posthuman and/or multispecies scholarship), and Sex in the Archive.

The school, founded in 1965 as an alternative model in higher education, has seen notable alumni like documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, actress Lupita Nyong'o, and mountaineer and author Jon Krakauer, among others. The school intends to "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)," Chrisler said.