Hampshire College Closure Signals Broader Crisis in U.S. Higher Education

Higher education is in crisis. Last week, Hampshire College — a private liberal arts school in Amherst, Massachusetts — announced it will shut down after the fall 2026 semester.

Founded in 1965 to “reimagine liberal arts education,” Hampshire counts documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and actors Lupita Nyong’o and Liev Schreiber among its most notable alumni.

But Hampshire is just the latest casualty in a broader trend. Notice roughly 4,000 colleges in the United States. According to Jon Marcus, senior higher education reporter at the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit publication covering education, around 100 have closed since the Covid-19 pandemic, and many more are at risk over the next decade.

For now, large public universities and well-endowed private schools like Harvard and Yale remain relatively stable. But smaller regional colleges are increasingly at risk. That shift could leave students with fewer options for higher education, and for some, close the door on higher education entirely.