Close to 350 employees to lose jobs as two Massachusetts colleges close

Local News

Hampshire College and Anna Maria College announced they were closing this month, citing mounting financial pressures.

A sign for Hampshire College is seen in Amherst, Massachusetts on April 14, 2026, the day it announced closure. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Nearly 350 employees will lose their jobs as Hampshire College and Anna Maria College move to shut down, according to state filings, marking the latest fallout from mounting financial pressures and declining enrollment facing small colleges in the state.

Anna Maria College in Paxton, which announced it was closing at the end of the spring semester last week, is laying off 150 employees. And Hampshire College in Amherst, which announced it was closing earlier this month, is laying off 199 people.

Hampshire College says the staff and faculty reductions will happen in waves, with the majority of employees ending their employment by June 15.

The school’s website said that employees will receive 60 days’ notice. A limited number of staff and faculty will stay on to help students complete their degrees at the college.

Anna Maria College said staffing adjustments will also be phased, with layoffs happening in late June.

“You have carried this institution through circumstances that would have broken a lesser community,” a letter to the Anna Maria community told the faculty and staff. “In classrooms, in residence halls, on athletic fields, in every office and corridor, you have shown up for students with dedication that humbles us.”

It remains unclear what will happen to the faculty.

An online petition sponsored by the American Association of University Professors, which has received over 700 signatures, asks that other universities and colleges step up to secure employment and healthcare for those who will lose them.

“The situation is a crisis,” the petition says.

More than 30 colleges and universities in New England have closed or merged in the last decade, with over a dozen closures or mergers in Massachusetts since 2015, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Other recent closures include Bay State College, which closed in 2023 due to financial instability, Becker College, which closed in 2021, and Mount Ida College, which merged with UMass in 2018.

Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.

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