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Posted on 04/15/2026 4:31:00 PM PDT by CFW
Iconic Leftist Hampshire College Permanently Closing at End of the Year
“Despite pursuing a financial sustainability plan and raising more than $55 million through its Change in the Making campaign, efforts in enrollment growth, debt refinancing and land development did not yield a viable path forward.”
The trustees of Hampshire College have voted to close the school after the fall semester of 2026. This marks the end of a process that began a few years ago when the school began to face the possibility of such a decision.
Located in central Massachusetts, Hampshire College is a progressive institution that makes other colleges look conservative by comparison. Following Trump’s election as president in 2016, students forced the school to fly the American flag at half-mast, drawing national attention and anger.
Hampshire is also pricey, with annual tuition of nearly $60,000, but despite the high price tag and increased fundraising efforts, the school has seen enrollment decline and finds itself in an unsustainable position.
WWLP News reports:
Hampshire College to close permanently after fall 2026 semester
Hampshire College’s board of trustees voted to permanently close the institution following the Fall 2026 semester. The decision comes after years of financial struggle and unsuccessful efforts to secure the college’s future.
The college has navigated financial challenges since 2019, experiencing declining enrollment, rising costs and an unstable funding environment that affects small, liberal arts colleges. Despite pursuing a financial sustainability plan and raising more than $55 million through its Change in the Making campaign, efforts in enrollment growth, debt refinancing and land development did not yield a viable path forward.
(Excerpt) Read more at legalinsurrection.com ...
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The 2025–2026 academic year is widely regarded as the final year before a significant, sustained drop in college-aged students, often termed the "enrollment cliff". Driven by a decline in birth rates during the 2007–2009 Great Recession, high school graduation numbers will peak around 2025 before starting a sharp decline, with 2026 enrollment for first-year students expected to feel this initial 7.4% to 15% reduction in many regions
FR articles from 2019.
“Are Liberal Arts Colleges Doomed? The cautionary tale of Hampshire College [tr]”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3790118/posts
“Filmmaker Ken Burns joins effort to save Hampshire College”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3736146/posts
Bad for small towns that depend on them economically but we're better off as a nation if they close.
Will AI put them out of business? Just a hunch.
Hooray
I guess the financial sustainability plan didn’t work.
Trump curse anyone?
Will AI put them out of business? Just a hunch.
Yeah, add AI to the mix as well.
These colleges should reopen as trade schools.
A lot of kids today have been discovering what it is to do basic plumbing, electrical and carpentry.
Especially young women who find being able to do about anything from changing their own oil to installing a socket in the wall ‘’empowers’’ them but they don’t have to rely on a guy and they realize, as young men are realizing you can make great money in doing it if you’re wiling to put the work in.
Making over a hundred dollars an hour as a plumber seems to be more attractive than sitting around getting that master’s in Afro_Haitian Lesbian Dance Theory.
“I guess the financial sustainability plan didn’t work.”
Clearly financial sustainability doesn’t mean what Hampshire College thought it meant.
It’s a shame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQQudHLi0A
I watched a video yesterday, that consisted of a series of 20-something females lamenting their college experience, the money it cost, and the debt they now have hung around their necks.
One of them said "there isn't anything I learned in four years of college that I can't look up in a few seconds using Google AI," or words to that effect. That remark really stuck with me.
Here it is, if you care: Women Are Suffering From Their Choice To Go To College.
Bye!
Tuition, room and board cost nearly $78,000 a year. That’s why they’re shutting their doors at the end of the year. Higher education in America is big time fraud.
sucks to be them, in a lot of ways
Hip hip hooray.
Yup.
my 18 yr old just got a 5 yr apprenticeship with Huntington Ingalls as a welder. 25 to start, overtime and anytime he is elevated is 50 an hour. I guarantee most of his friends going to college will be at McJobs in 5 years.
Somewhere I read something to the effect that as price increases, demand decreases -- except for "luxury goods." I guess a Hampshire College education is not a "luxury good."
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