Hampshire College

Hampshire College is the western Massachusetts liberal arts school Nic Sheff chooses as a possible fresh start after deciding that Berkeley’s impersonal bureaucracy was a poor fit. Its bucolic campus, broad academic choices, and connections to four nearby colleges make it an object of family hope; Nic’s relapse soon after arriving turns that hope into another test of how little a promising setting can guarantee.

Setting and Academic Appeal

Situated on a former apple orchard that retains the feeling of a farm, Hampshire offers an expansive liberal arts program, with hundreds of majors and courses. Its five-college consortium also lets students choose courses at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Smith, and Mount Holyoke, with a shuttle bus connecting the campuses. The range and atmosphere distinguish it from the large, bureaucratic Berkeley experience Nic says left him feeling swallowed up.

The college had already impressed both Nic and his father, David Sheff, during an earlier tour. Nic sat in on English and political science classes and visited the music and drama studios; he was drawn to the vibrant atmosphere and rural setting. After moving home, he proposed taking a year away from school to work and recover physically and mentally before applying to smaller colleges. He promised to attend therapy, observe curfews, help around the house, and work. When Hampshire accepted him a few months later, David took the news as evidence that Nic was back on track.

Arrival and Recovery Plan

Hampshire remained important to Nic while he was in treatment. During a family visit on his third weekend at the hospital, he asked whether college was still possible and said he would do what was necessary to attend. He promised to go regularly to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, work with a sponsor, and request a substance-free dormitory. David made clear that another relapse would mean withdrawing his support and that Nic would have to leave college and manage on his own. Nic’s renewed resolve partly followed forceful encouragement from people in group therapy, some of whom had lost family relationships and urged him not to refuse an opportunity his parents were still willing to provide.

After graduating from the treatment program, Nic spoke optimistically about staying away from drugs. In August, David and Karen Barbour flew east with him to settle in and prepare for freshman orientation, revisiting an Indian restaurant Nic and David had discovered on the college tour. The distance—about three thousand miles from home—made the move both a concrete beginning and a source of parental worry.

Support on Campus and Relapse

At Hampshire, Nic attended classes and regular sessions with a drug and alcohol counselor recommended by the school. As agreed, he went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and found a sponsor, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts. The sponsor hosted a Sunday morning gathering at his home for coffee, muffins, and a meeting. Nic also reported attending Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings during the week, and his regular updates initially eased David’s anxiety.

That reassurance lasted only briefly. About a month later, Nic stopped returning his father’s phone calls. David suspected a relapse despite Nic’s earlier promises and the substance-free dorm arrangement. Nic had complained that the dorm was not truly substance-free, describing weekend nights marked by carousing, people stumbling and falling, and vomiting. The college plan had been supported by his counselors at St. Helena Hospital as well as his family, because Nic had seemed convincingly committed to it; the abrupt loss of contact showed how quickly that confidence could unravel.

David asked a friend visiting Amherst to check on Nic. The friend found him shut away in his dorm room and obviously high. Hampshire thus becomes more than the promising alternative to Berkeley that Nic and his father had imagined: its academic opportunities and recovery supports coexist with the return of his drug use, and admission to an appealing college cannot by itself secure sobriety.