NORTH ADAMS — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will accept all Hampshire College students seeking to complete their undergraduate degrees after the Amherst-based school’s board voted to close the college.

The private liberal arts college this week announced it would close after this fall's semester, citing “increasingly complex” financial pressures and declining enrollment.

“The rationale behind this painful vote reflects several realities,” said a Tuesday letter signed by Hampshire College's president and board chair. “The College no longer has the resources to sustain full operations and meet our regulatory responsibilities."

Current students will be able to complete their degrees through the fall semester, while incoming students who paid to enter after closure will receive refunds, according to the statement.

Students who are not graduating will have the option to transfer to partner institutions like MCLA, which reached a formal agreement with Hampshire College and mapped the curriculum to ensure a seamless credit transfer, according to a release from the college.

MCLA is among eight institutions that will serve as Hampshire’s teach-out partners. Others include Bennington College, Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

MCLA will accept all “currently matriculated Hampshire students who are in good academic and judicial standing,” according to a statement from the college. Application fees will be waived and students can expect an admission decision within 72 hours of submitting an application.

"Hampshire College has long been a place where curious, creative students come to do serious work, and those students deserve a path forward that honors that," said MCLA President James Birge. "At MCLA, we believe access to a quality liberal arts education is a public good, and stepping up in moments like this is exactly what we are here to do. We welcome Hampshire students to come together and build community here alongside our own.”

This is not the first time MCLA has provided expedited transfer for students from a closing institution.

After The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., closed in 2024, MCLA invited those students to finish their degrees. In 2019, the college forged a teach-out agreement for students at Southern Vermont College when it folded.

MCLA has been trying to boost enrollment back to pre-pandemic numbers and, according to projections from the college, it wants to enroll around 1,100 students by fall 2026 and about 1,500 by 2029.

MCLA did successfully enroll students from The College of Saint Rose cohort, but a spokesperson said they did not have "a specific figure to share at this time."

Meanwhile, other nearby colleges are at risk of closing or facing trends of declining enrollment. On April 10, the state Department of Higher Education issued a warning that Anna Maria College, which is just west of Worcester, may not have "sufficient resources to be able to sustain operations" for this year or the next.

More than two dozen Massachusetts colleges have closed in the last decade, according to a 2025 MassLive investigation.