California College of the Arts sophomore Ana Small learned the school was closing in an abrupt way.

"I woke up to an email, so that's how I found out," Small said.

The message informed students that the San Francisco-based school would close after the 2026/'27 school year.

The announcement was tied to a press conference held earlier today, where Mayor Daniel Lurie stood alongside Vanderbilt University leaders to announce plans to open a full-time campus in San Francisco by 2027. Vanderbilt plans to take over CCA's current site.

"We stayed focused on making this happen," Mayor Lurie said. "Because we know if we want San Francisco to help lead the future, we must compete to get the institutions that shape it."

The new campus is expected to serve about 1,000 students, with a focus on innovation that blends engineering, entrepreneurship and the arts.

Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said the university also plans to preserve CCA's legacy, but the transition does not include an automatic path forward for current students.

"There will be an opportunity for students who may want to transfer to Vanderbilt," Diermeier said. "We will consider that, but that's a different conversation. We are not absorbing CCA in any way."

Vanderbilt still needs regulatory approvals to operate in California, but on CCA's campus, the impact of the closure is already being felt beyond the classroom.

Mack Warwick manages the on-campus art supply store, ARCH Supplies, and said about 30 percent of the business is tied directly to CCA students.

"We will obviously have concerns about that," Warwick said. "But it's just also a big loss for the arts community in the Bay Area."

For business owners like Warwick and students like Small, the future now comes with far more questions than answers.