Hampshire College (an experimental liberal arts institution in Massachusetts founded in 1970) will shut down at the end of the upcoming fall semester, its president and board announced this week, citing chronically low enrollment and deepening financial pressures. The college had set a target of 300 students for 2025 but attracted only around half that number, following years of financial difficulty that nearly forced a closure six years ago. Hampshire's demise is part of a broader wave that has seen nearly 300 US colleges and universities close since 2008, with humanities and liberal arts institutions hit particularly hard by shifting attitudes toward higher education, weakening graduate career prospects, and the rise of AI.