The future of a Western Massachusetts college weighs heavily on its campus community.
The road to financial stability at Hampshire College in Amherst has been rocky after it nearly closed in 2019 and then missed its enrollment goal by half in 2025.
As the college deals with the enrollment gap from the previous academic year, Hampshire’s community has had mixed reactions.
Many emphasized the college’s uniqueness, but are wary of its future. Others have a more optimistic outlook.
Hampshire’s distinctive features, like narrative evaluations, make it a place its community loves. But they can also deter many college-aged students, said Donna Cohn, associate professor of applied design.
“I work with some people, students, (where) Hampshire is just about the only place that they could succeed in college. And I don’t think that those students have been identified enough. So that’s always been a challenge,” Cohn said.
Hampshire appeals to people who want autonomy over their learning, she said. Meanwhile, its renowned film program and open-access maker space have made the school a creative hub for artists.
“Hampshire is able to do these things that other colleges are afraid to try,” Cohn said.
At the same time, over the two decades Cohn has taught at Hampshire, the programs that have made the college special have slowly been pared down, she said.
The cuts have affected morale. And the administration isn’t able to finance repairs to deteriorating buildings, she said.
Hampshire laid off non-faculty employees, suspended certain benefits and required senior leadership to take pay cuts, among other actions, in 2023.
“It’s not like I feel like I’m giving up at all. It’s just there’s been so many rough patches at Hampshire that this just feels like another one,” Cohn said.
What happened to Hampshire’s enrollment?
Jennifer Chrisler, Hampshire’s newly appointed president, told MassLive in November that instead of recruiting 300 students, it enrolled about 150 new students in 2025.
However, she said the college is at a transition point and ready for change.
Campus financing projects are nearing their goals and the college has invested in new admissions and marketing tools to give it a better shot at attracting new students.
While it’s too early to project the college’s application numbers for this year, the college has seen an uptick in applications, reaching just over 2,000 compared to this time last year, a college spokesperson said.
The previous admissions cycle was affected by other institutions opening their waitlists and accepting more students than usual. That forced even more competition between institutions to vie for the same students, Chrisler said.
She also attributes the missed enrollment target to fewer college-aged people in the U.S.
Hampshire’s enrollment challenges don’t diminish its resilience or momentum, said Ken Rosenthal, who was the college’s interim president in 2019.
“It’s not the same as it was in 2019. It’s growing and improving. Its fundraising is growing every year, every month,” said Rosenthal, who was instrumental in the college’s founding in 1970 and is still involved today
While Rosenthal admits the enrollment challenges do impact the college’s fiscal stability, he believes it is going in the right direction.
It has grown to 750 students after administrators declined to enroll a full freshman class in 2019. The incoming cohort that fall was only 13 students.
He believes Hampshire’s financial position will strengthen with alumni gifts, especially through wills.
“The question is, for somebody like me, am I still willing to give money to the college? Because this is money that comes out of my bank account that would go to my children. And the answer is absolutely yes. And Hampshire remains in my will,” Rosenthal said.
‘A big blow’: Hampshire’s importance to its community
For students at Hampshire, the frequent bouts of financial and enrollment challenges have created an “aura of resentment and frustration across campus,” student Samara Ternoir said.
Students are feeling it between high staff turnover rates and tuition changes, she said.
“Hampshire managed to survive before, and I’m confident Hampshire will continue to survive, but not without major reflection and a commitment to building trust between everyone involved in the institution,” Ternoir, a senior, said.
It needs to do a better job at listening to students’ feedback to strengthen the institution, she said.
Stan Moulton, who was part of the first Hampshire class in 1970, said he wishes alumni were reached out to more — not for their money but for their time.
Alumni could be a critical source of support for admissions and recruiting if only Hampshire tapped into them, he said.
While he isn’t as concerned about Hampshire closing as he was in 2019, he’s still wary.
To lose Hampshire would be a “big blow to this student-centered approach to education in higher ed,” Moulton said.
“I feel so passionate about making sure that Hampshire continues to survive and thrives and identifies the right students and does all that it can to bring them to Hampshire so that they have the same opportunity that I had,” Moulton, a former Northampton city councilor, said.
Others feel similarly, especially parents of Hampshire students who took to Facebook to express their views after MassLive published an article about the school’s enrollment challenges.
One parent said Hampshire is a “best-kept secret with huge potential.” Another wrote that Hampshire pulled their daughter out of her shell to show “her genius.”
An alum wrote that Hampshire’s curriculum was rigorous but still allowed for experimentation.
Mixed in with the positive reviews were objectors who wrote that the college was too unstructured and “hippie” for them when they visited or studied at other colleges in the area.
One parent said her daughter takes courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst or Smith College to “avoid being ostracized for her normalcy.”
A positive path forward for Hampshire College
Despite the ups and downs of enrollment challenges, professors Cohn and Viveca Greene are excited about the college’s path forward under Chrisler’s new presidency.
Both feel like she is the right leader for Hampshire.
Working at Hampshire has been a “much-needed antidote to all the things that make me worry about the world,” Greene said.
“I truly believe there has never been a more important time for Hampshire to exist, and I know there are many kids who would feel safe and supported here,” Greene said.
