In 2019 Hampshire College had to prove to the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) why it shouldn't lose its accreditation. It did so successfully.
In 2026, NECHE is again questioning Hampshire's fiscal management, as it educates less than 800 students, saying the school hasn't successfully sustained its enrollment. It is also questioning the college's ability to refinance a $21 million bond debt, and the school's declining unrestricted endowment, which is been used to support operations.
Other liberal arts colleges are struggling, but some say the ongoing challenges at Hampshire College are connected to its relative youth and recent history — that NECHE should allow more time for the school to find its footing, because it is a college that has changed peoples lives, and bettered the world.
"I've seen what it can do for people," said Ken Rosenthal, a founder of the college, it's first chief financial officer and an interim president in 2019.
The list of accomplished and famous alumni is impressive.
Rosenthal believes the most recent challenge for the college is connected to shifting eras of leadership, starting in 2017 when Hampshire College's new president Miriam Nelson arrived to a campus that was cash strapped.
Then like now, it had a small endowment and enrollment had been on the decline for several years.
In January 2019, Nelson announced she was seeking a strategic partner; a merger with UMass Amherst had been discussed.
Then Nelson and the board decided not to admit a full class in for the fall semester of 2019.
"It [became] radically smaller," Rosenthal said; Hampshire is dependent on tuition for almost 90 percent of its revenues, according to the school.
Nelson resigned in 2019, appointing Rosenthal as the school's interim president
"While it didn't have those students coming in, in September [2019], it still had a full staff and a full campus [to operate]. One of the things that I had to do in my four months [as president] was lay people off," Rosenthal said.
In that time NECHE told Hampshire College it could lose its accreditation unless it documented how it could address increase enrollment and address its uncertain finance.
Rosenthal said they were able to prove to NECHE the merits and strengths of the school, and its ability to responsibly run the college.
"That yes, we have a future and we can given time, bring in students and and bring in the money that will keep the college moving," Rosenthal said.
Then the pandemic hit, one among other recent challenges Rosenthal said.
"Colleges and institutions simply didn't have residents on campus, and last year the FAFSA application process through the federal government was slowed."
Still, in 2023 Hampshire College announced its largest incoming class in five years. Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach (who left last year to become president of the American College in Greece) told NEPM the college was in a much different place.
"We're stable and moving in a really positive direction financially," he said, "and more importantly, we are a really exciting place for students to attend, and I think we see that in the dramatically growing interest, both in applications and acceptances."
In 2023, Wingenbach said Hampshire had raised almost $40 million towards a $60 million fundraising goal and ten new faculty members are being hired for the fall.
Jennifer Chrisler became president of Hampshire, College last October, though she's has been at the school since 2019, as its chief advancement officer, been critical to major fundraising efforts and enrollment, according the the school.
Even those gains, the publicity of the last few weeks can't be good for the admissions process in this coming year, Rosenthal said.
He has faith in Chrisler, Rosenthal said, but Hampshire needs to get the message out now and overtime about school's virtues, "to high school guidance counselors, prospective students and their parents."
If the commission puts Hampshire College on probation, Rosenthal said it could be fatal for the school.
