In 1914, Massachusetts Agricultural College (now UMass), Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith joined International YMCA College (now
Springfield College) to form the Committee on University Extension of the Connecticut Valley Colleges, a joint
continuing education program for the Pioneer Valley. In later years, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and MAC—later known as Massachusetts State and UMass—increased their collaboration, culminating in the formation of an inter-library loaning program in 1951, and a joint astronomy department in 1959. Finally, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and UMass incorporated the
Four College Consortium, which became the Five College Consortium when Hampshire College was founded in 1965, and, in 1970, admitted its inaugural class. Student groups and organizations often draw participants from all five campuses and several academic programs are run by the Five Colleges (for example:
astronomy,
dance, some foreign languages, and
women's studies). The colleges also participate in an
interlibrary loan program, allowing students, staff, and faculty to take advantage of all five campuses' collections. The
Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory was founded in 1969 by the Five College Astronomy Department. Together, the Five Colleges operate
WFCR (Five College Radio), an
NPR member station operating at 88.5
MHz in the
FM band. In 2019,
Hampshire College and
UMass briefly considered a merger due to the former's financial difficulties, but this never went through. In 2026, administrators of Hampshire College announced that it would be closing after the fall 2026 semester. ==Bus transportation==