Ken Burns Wants To Save This Liberal Arts College — Before It Dies (HBO)

Hampshire College is in trouble. The liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts was founded in 1970 as a radical experiment in education: there are no grades, and students chart their own coursework. But now the school is finding itself on the verge of bankruptcy and is in danger of shutting down.

Hampshire College costs about $65,000 a year to attend, but only has an endowment of about $48.5 million — which pales in comparison to other, older colleges (neighboring Amherst College has a $2.2 billion dollar endowment, for example). Student enrollment steadily declining over the last few years could mean the death knell for the school, as tuition and fees make up about 90% of their operating budget.


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