Is Hampshire College Closed? Nope. No Way. Not By a Long Shot.

Sure, we had a bumpy 2019, but Hampshire College was designed to change and respond to the challenges facing humanity, and we’ve been reinventing ourselves all along. We continue to do just that, evolving to meet the needs of today’s students, instilling essential skills to prepare them to thrive in the real world.     
    
Our mission has always been to radically reimagine the liberal arts and serve as the agent of change in higher education. And, in fact, every element that today’s Association of American Colleges & Universities recognizes as a high-impact educational practice was part of Hampshire’s method from the beginning.   
    
Today, we’re more unconventional than we’ve ever been, and we’re organized in a way that’s different from any other college. Our approach to college education places students at the center of globally relevant questions in urgent need of solutions and empowers them to become agents of momentous change.   
    
At Hampshire, students self-design their education, combining different fields to curate an original course of study. They participate in project-based learning to develop entrepreneurial skills and they collaborate by taking part in community-engaged learning. They learn multiple ways to identify a problem, ask the right questions, mobilize resources, and incorporate diverse points of view as they creatively propose solutions.   
    
In short, they take their projects beyond the conceptual and make them real. We believe that to know is not enough — that knowledge without application benefits no one.   
    
The world has long looked to Hampshire for what’s next, and we’ll continue — with confidence — to keep higher education on its toes.

Since 2019,

• We reorganized our already interdisciplinary academic schools around globally relevant challenges. Through our innovative Learning Collaboratives, we bring together disciplines to address the biggest issues facing society today.
• Hampshire was recognized for bringing a choice to an increasingly conformist higher education landscape, and for serving as “an incubator for education innovation” by the journalist Jon Marcus for The Hechinger Report.
• While Hampshire missed its fall 2025 enrollment target, the hard work of rebuilding Hampshire since 2019 continues, and President Jenn Chrisler “remains really confident and positive about where we are and where we're headed.” As of January 2026, the enrollment is up to 750 full-time enrolled students.
• Hampshire College continues to maintain full accreditation by the New England Commission of Higher Education to award the Bachelor of Arts degree. Membership in the association indicates that the institution has been carefully evaluated and found to meet standards agreed upon by qualified educators.
• As of January 2026, the Change in the Making campaign has raised $55 million in direct operating support, including three $5 million gifts, the largest since the College’s founding.
• In October 2025, Hampshire College marked 55 years of innovation in higher education. 

Our alumni, faculty, and students have been busy innovating too.

• Student Mandy-Young Guzmán’s S25 presentation at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children led to several invitations to speak at other institutions and conferences.
• While still a student, recent Hampshire grad Rupert Tawiah-Quashie 22S was awarded a Projects for Peace grant to implement “<Code_gh>,” a training program that aims to give high school students in Accra, Ghana, an opportunity to excel within the tech space.
• Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies Noah Romero published a book on decolonializing education and received a $40,000 grant to implement related programs.
• Hampshire’s first Semester Unbound brought together faculty, staff, and students to create the campus’s new Climate Action Plan.
• Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and African American Literary Arts Nathan McClain was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship, one of the most prestigious artist residencies in the U.S.
• Hampshire alum and cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce 84F was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She received an $800,000 no-strings-attached award alongside 21 other “extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.”
• And so much more.

Curious to learn what else is going on? You should be. Come visit, and see for yourself why Hampshire College is the most innovative and exciting place in higher education.