Hampshire College Closure Highlights Financial Strain on Small Liberal Arts Schools

Hampshire College closure highlights financial strain on small liberal arts schools

After years of financial decline, Hampshire College, a liberal arts college in Massachusetts, has announced it will close at the end of the year. But the college is hardly alone. A new estimate projects that nearly 450 of the nation's 1,700 private, nonprofit colleges and universities are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next decade. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Jon Marcus.

Woke Massachussets college shutting down after financial instability, falling attendance

A private liberal arts college in western Massachusetts will close after the fall 2026 semester, after years of financial instability and declining enrollment. Hampshire College in Amherst announced the decision this week after its board of trustees voted to shut down operations. The move ends a decades-long experiment in alternative higher education that struggled to remain viable. Trustees called the vote difficult as the school failed to reve…