California College of the Arts will close as an independent institution after 119 years, as Vanderbilt University prepares to take over its main San Francisco campus at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.
The announcement stunned faculty and staff, many of whom learned of the decision in January through an internal email from CCA President David Howse. The school will stop accepting new students next year, marking the end of one of the Bay Area’s most influential art institutions, SFGATE reported.
In the email, Howse said years of falling enrollment, demographic shifts and a long-running structural deficit had pushed the tuition-dependent school past the point of recovery.
“Ultimately, none of these measures are enough to ensure CCA can continue to operate independently,” he wrote, as cited by The San Francisco Standard.
CCA’s financial troubles have been mounting for years. In 2024, the school invested about US$123 million to consolidate its Oakland and San Francisco campuses, only to see enrollment drop sharply, resulting in a reported $20 million budget deficit. Emergency donations totaling $45 million last year, including a major contribution from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, briefly raised hopes of survival but proved to be a short-term fix.
Under the agreement, Vanderbilt will assume ownership of CCA’s Design District campus and launch new undergraduate and graduate programs. The university said it will preserve parts of CCA’s legacy, including housing the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts and establishing a California College of the Arts Institute within Vanderbilt.
City officials framed the move as a boost for San Francisco’s struggling downtown. Mayor Daniel Lurie said Vanderbilt’s expansion would bring about 1,000 students to the area, most of whom are expected to live on campus, helping re-energize the surrounding neighborhood.
For many in the arts community, however, the closure is seen as another blow to San Francisco’s shrinking cultural ecosystem. CCA joins a growing list of long-standing arts institutions that have shuttered or been absorbed amid rising costs, declining enrollment, and shifting demographics.
Founded in 1907, CCA has produced generations of influential artists and designers and long served as a cornerstone of the Bay Area’s creative identity.
Credit: e.vnexpress.net
