A sadness: two MA colleges

[magid]

Hampshire College has announced that they’re closing at the end of the fall 2026 semester (Why in the middle of the academic year? I have no idea, but it seems really odd.).

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts/

I’ve never been there, but apparently it’s part of my emotional-geographical mental landscape anyway, given my need to post about it: so many years of listening to WFCR in the mornings, WBUR in the evenings growing up. (Apparently WFCR is just known now as the western MA NPR affiliate, not Five College Radio. And four starts with F, too.) This is yet another sadness in an already challenging time. I feel badly for the current students, and worse for the employees. Will the other four institutions in the five college area be hiring? What will happen to the campus? It won’t help the local businesses, either.

Closer to where I grew up, apparently Anna Maria College’s future is also shaky. I have a lot of the same questions, though presumably that not being definite gives people more time to plan?

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/anna-maria-college-massachusetts-risk-of-closing/?intcid=CNR-02-0623

Comments

I feel this.

[avivasedai]

The post-secondary landscape in CA is shaky. I feel your concerns about an entire college/university closing: where are the jobs for all of those people, and how will this screw up all of those students? This is so difficult, terrible, unfortunate.

Re: I feel this.

[magid]

I hope your job is ok….

[cellio]

On timing, it might be that it's too late for students to be able to transfer elsewhere for the fall semester, so they're allowing more time? Or maybe there are research grants or other contracts that preclude closing earlier?

[magid]

It didn’t stop Wells College announcing a couple of years ago in late spring that they were closing in two weeks, so sorry your life is now totally borked.

I’m not sure on timing of transfers, but if someone is now a junior, they’re def going to prefer having a whole year at NewCollege rather than just a semester (assuming all the credits transfer over, which, depending on the program, might not?). I hope that the biggest of the five institutions in the area (UMass) will help in some ways….

As for grants/contracts, if they’re bringing in enough money to keep functioning, why not end with spring 2027 graduation? And if not, then I think bankruptcy/institution closing trumps other considerations.

Side note: on family Zoom last night, someone mentioned they know a kid who’s now had this happen to them twice (!!), and someone described them as the JD Vance of colleges (!!!).

[cellio]

It didn’t stop Wells College announcing a couple of years ago in late spring that they were closing in two weeks, so sorry your life is now totally borked.

Ouch! What a terrible mess for those students. Makes me wonder if part of the motivation here is "we don't want to be another Wells"? Also, I'm sorry for that kid your family member mentioned, yikes.

Grants wouldn't be enough to keep them functioning (demonstrably), but I was thinking that if some multi-year research project was funded through the end of the calendar year, there might be pressure to complete it, maybe even financial penalties for aborting it. I'm totally guessing here, and it looks like it's a liberal-arts school so less likely to have things like DARPA contracts, I admit.

I assume it comes down to the board or other administrators trying to work out the least-bad way to close, considering both money and PR. Cynically, student wellbeing is probably not on that list.

[magid]

I believe Hampshire is one of the only colleges where everyone designs their own major, approximately, so I’d really hope they’re doing this for the students (it’s not great for the teachers to be available halfway through the academic year, though given this year’s cycle is mostly done for non-adjunct positions, it gives them a longer lead to start on next year’s market, and ‘only’ a semester or two out of work if they’re successful….).