Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, is cutting some benefits for employees for the upcoming academic year.
Hampshire is temporarily suspending contributions to workers' retirement accounts and some senior staffers will take pay reductions.
The college was on the brink of closing or merging about five years ago, but the school says enrollment has rebounded, and fundraising has increased.
Hampshire anticipates having 900 full-time students enrolled starting this fall. That’s an increase of about 400 going back to the 2022-23 academic year.
The school has raised more than $43 million, officials said.
Hampshire President Ed Wingenbach said that while the school can still hit its overall goal 1,000-1,200 students, it's happening a bit slower than projected.
"So, we're not going to get to 1,200 students a quickly as we would have hoped, so we just need to keep adjusting our expenses to match up with that rate of growth," Wingenbach said in an interview.
Wingenbach said he’s confident with the path the college is taking and that it is on solid footing going forward.
Despite the cuts, Hampshire College workers making less than $100,000 will still receive cost-of-living pay raises and will receive more paid time off. Employees making $40,000 or less will receive the largest bump in pay — 8%. The size of the increase decreases the more someone makes. And, they will receive five more paid days off per year, with other paid holidays to be announced.
Disclosure: Hampshire College is a financial supporter of NEPM. The newsroom operates independently.
