MOUNT GREENWOOD — Saint Xavier University has announced plans to close its campus in Gilbert, Ariz.
The Mount Greenwood-based university blamed small initial enrollment as well as Illinois' ongoing budget impasse for the closure in a written statement issued Wednesday.
"The impact of the current fiscal situation in Illinois also now impacts our efforts in Arizona," the statement reads.
Saint Xavier opened its campus in the town immediately southeast of Mesa, Ariz., on Aug. 4. The university planned to bring a full range of education, nursing and business programs to the campus by this fall semester.
Only 25 students will be affected by the closure, according to a Chicago Tribune report. Those students are being encouraged to sign up for classes online, the university's statement said.
The town of Gilbert invested about $37 million into Saint Xavier's 87,000-square-foot, four-story satellite campus, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.
Under the terms of a 15-year lease, the university must pay $250,000 if it does not fulfill the contract. The lease also requires the university to pay rent to the end of the agreement, or for at least six years, according to the same report.
"After so much work developing so many important relationships to launch this initiative, the decision the university had to make was most difficult," the statement from Saint Xavier reads.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
