Hampshire College cuts 29 jobs in effort to save $2.7M in expenses

AMHERST — Restructuring at Hampshire College will eliminate about 29 non-faculty staff positions, or 9% of the college’s workforce, saving about $2.7 million in operating costs, according to officials at the Amherst campus.

“The changes are grounded in our student-centered, experimenting approach while generating budget adjustments that support Hampshire’s financial health,” spokeswoman Jennifer Chrisler wrote in an email Tuesday. “The restructuring will not impact the current number of faculty nor involve changing the academic program.”

The job cuts, announced to the campus on Monday, were first reported publicly in Higher Ed Dive in an interview with College President Ed Wingenbach, who cited enrollment growth that was lower than expected for the 2024-2025 academic year. The college had hoped to have 1,200 students enrolled by this fall, but will only have about 900 on campus.

Last month, Hampshire College officials said they would temporarily freeze retirement contributions for all employees and cut salaries for senior staff members next school year to meet the college’s operating budget goal of about $44 million. The college has operated at a deficit since 2019, when the institution didn’t take an incoming class and nearly closed.

Chrisler explained that various administrative divisions and functions are being combined across the college, which means decreasing administrative layers and complexity, consolidating college functions where duplication exists, bolstering the effectiveness of antiracism initiatives, reducing barriers to collaboration across divisions, supporting improvements in student retention, and prioritizing the core academic program.

Enrollment, Financial Aid, Advancement and Events Services are being consolidated into a new division of Institutional Support.

At Student Affairs, current responsibilities are being distributed across Academic Affairs, Auxiliary Services and Justice, Equity and Antiracism.

“Combining student-facing services and supports with those already operating within JEA will center the commitments to equity and antiracism across the work the college does to create a just and flourishing campus culture that supports student success,” Chrisler said.

The college’s 900 students enrolled in the fall will also be about 40 short of the projections made in April 2023, making it difficult to reach the aim of financial stability by the end of the 2026-2027 academic year. To get to this stability, Wingenbach told Higher Ed Drive senior reporter Ben Unglesee that he had to look at expenses, rather than revenues.

“We’re still growing, enrollment is still increasing,” Wingenbach said. “This is really more about ensuring that we can continue to be successful as the parameters of that growth change.”

Since not admitting a class, Hampshire College began a fundraising campaign to save the school, with a goal of $60 million by 2024. Led by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, a Hampshire graduate, the campaign has since received large donations from $1 million to $5 million made in honor of the filmmaker or by other famous graduates such as Stonyfield Organic co-founder Gary Hirshberg.

The campaign is currently at $42.6 million and remains open for donations.