Alaska Airlines does indeed fly to SLC. Plus Delta offers non-stop flights from Anchorage to SLC daily.
SLC has robust community college system. The OP could get their CNA, phlebotomy or EMT certificate for a very reasonable cost during their first summer in SLC.(They would need to spend most of one summer in Utah to get in-state residency.) They could then go to work at one the U’s several hospitals part time to start racking up the required employment hours for PA school.
Other options include the VA Hospital (4 minute walk from central campus), Lakeview Hospital (6 minute walk from central campus) and the Shiner’s Children’s Hospital (10 minutes by bike or 30 minutes by bus).
OP is going to have to consider the pros and cons of WUE vs staying for residency very carefully since you can’t do both. The cost over 4 years is about the same, but you pay more upfront to get residency. On the other hand if you’ve been in WUE status all four years, none of that counts for residency so you’d either have to pay OOS for the first year of grad school (in fact I think it may be a minimum of 40 credits for some grad programs so 3 semesters) or take a year off and work while getting instate residency before starting.
This is so important and easily overlooked that I wanted to emphasize it. Paying out of state one year and staying over the summer to be “in state” for a full year will allow you to establish residency in UT. Over 4 years it nets out to be about the same as WUE, but then you’ll pay instate for the next phase. You have to weigh that against anything you might give up in AK benefits to switch residency. I don’t know how state kickbacks in AK work, but if your parents are still claiming you, they might be able to have it both ways, you getting in state in Utah and them claiming you and reaping any benefits that come with that.
That’s what I was wondering about. It looks though like the permanent fund check was only $900 this year. If the OP becomes a UT resident and comes close to breaking even with WUE and then stays for the PA program, they’ll save $40k. They could do the residency conversion after the first year of PA school, but then they’ll only save $20k. Either way, their parents will lose the deduction. That said, the student can then often qualify for a subsidised healthcare plan that their parents might not have if they stayed on their policy as a dependent. Lots of moving parts to consider.