AMHERST, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Hampshire College announced this week it will officially close after the fall 2026 semester, marking the end of a long-standing institution in the Amherst community.

The decision came down Tuesday after years of trying to save the school. Despite raising $55 million and trying to refinance debt, the board said declining enrollment and rising costs left them with no other choice.

“I thought I would go there and meet interesting people, learn a lot of fantastic stuff, and I did, but I think really the death of Hampshire College is kind of a reflection of the current conditions of the times, the material conditions of the economy faltering and of, kind of, the social fabric of America,” said Joan Priester, a Hampshire College sophomore.

Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the community is heartbroken and described Hampshire College as a vital institution to the five-college area and the entire Pioneer Valley. “Hampshire owns 500 acres in the town of Amherst. They were our third largest employer, our third largest user of public utilities, like water and sewer, things like that, so all that will be gone,” he added.

Over 250 people will lose their jobs. Approximately 800 students will need to find another college unless they are graduating this year. Every alumni will no longer have an alma mater to go back to. “I met some of my dearest friends there and not having it there will be significant for most of us. Our colleges, universities, if you went, are touchstones for us. We look back and we think about those years and it’s a sense of place that will be lost. I feel especially for those who are graduating, they aren’t going to have a place to go back to on their five-year reunion,” Bockelman, who also graduated from the school, explained.

Bockelman said when the college almost closed in 2019, they decided to omit a freshman class and, in the four years following, they have lost 25 percent revenue. He said that may have played a pivotal role.

Current seniors will be able to finish their degrees by December. Other students now face a series of transfer applications to schools like UMass Amherst or Smith College. The college said they will not admit a new class this fall and all deposits will be refunded.

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