A once-struggling college has made a roaring comeback by embracing a new idea: What if every enrolled student also had a job?

Paul Quinn College, a historically black college located near Dallas, Texas, is the first college in a major city to be designated a federal work college. That means that every student holds a job, no matter what field of study they choose.

The student body is comprised of many first-generation and low income students. “On any given year, between 80 and 90 percent of our students qualify for Pell Grants, which means they’re coming from the lowest economic strata in the country,” Michael Sorrell, President of Paul Quin, told Dallas’s WFAA. . “It isn’t any more complicated than that.”Sorrell said. “In addition to that, 70 percent of our students have zero expected family contributions, which means no one in their family has the ability to help them pay for school.”

Ensuring that students have jobs means that their education is subsidized by a salary, and they get education they can apply immediately. “We’ve created a model where our students are working and going to school. We like to say they are learning how to think and learning how to do,” Sorell told WFAA.

The real-world approach is also felt in the curriculum. The school has eliminated textbooks (too expensive) and adopted lessons that incorporate scenarios students are likely to relate to. In economics classes, for example, the class studies why grocery stores don’t often move into low-income areas.

“When you talk about hands-on learning, you actually get it and you get paid for it,” Carnelius Manning, a freshman, told WFAA. “I’m working in a business setting, which will give me the resume as well as the education you get from being around people that are already doing the things you want to do.”