The University of Utah will shut down its Sandy Center on Jan. 1, 2027, ending more than 25 years of satellite classes for South Valley students.

About 660 students enrolled at the Sandy Center this fall, according to the university's announcement. Of those, 33 registered exclusively at the center. The rest also took online courses or attended classes on the main Salt Lake City campus.

The closure hits hardest for students like Jackson Graybeal, a high school student who takes college courses at the Sandy Center. "So now I'll have to go up to the campus at the U and it's going to be a much longer commute," Graybeal told Fox 13 on Aug. 25.

The 30,000-square-foot center at 10011 Centennial Parkway sits in an office building near Interstate 15 and a TRAX station. It offered general education courses, evening classes, a bookstore and a testing center.

The university (the U) said the closure is part of its response to House Bill 265 (HB265), a state law requiring it to reallocate $19.6 million in existing state funding over three years toward high-demand workforce programs.

The Sandy campus was targeted because its courses are general education classes also available online and at the main campus. Running a separate location requires dedicated facility and administrative costs, the university said.

The decision was not part of the U's original HB265 plans. The Salt Lake Tribune reported the Sandy closure surfaced earlier in 2026 during the law's second year of implementation. Most students were not notified until the week of Aug. 24, about a month after the university had posted an announcement encouraging Sandy Center enrollment.

In 2023, the U signed a 10-year lease for the Sandy space at a cost of $7.35 million. The school may sublease the space to another tenant, the Tribune reported. How much the university will save by closing the center has not been disclosed.

The closure comes as the university pursues a $21 million bid on a 5.3-acre Salt Lake City property near its main campus. The Utah Board of Higher Education approved that bid Saturday, Oct. 3. University of Utah President Taylor Randall called the acquisition strategic for the landlocked campus, telling the board, "We rarely see blocks of land come up like this."

The U also faces broader financial pressure. Its chief financial officer has said expenses are outpacing revenues in a trajectory the university called unsustainable. The school plans to lay off up to 855 staff members over the next nine months and scale back retirement benefits for new hires, according to the Tribune's reporting.

Utah's college-age population will peak around 2028, then decline by about 85,000 people over the following two decades, according to the U's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Enrollment at Utah's public colleges already fell between 2019 and 2025.

University advisers are working with Sandy Center students to find in-person and online alternatives for spring 2027. Programs including Continuing Education, youth programming and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offerings will move to other university locations.

Fall 2026 classes at the Sandy Center will continue through the end of the semester. Students with questions can contact their academic adviser or email [email protected].