Paul Quinn College’s vision to eradicate poverty through access to quality education and jobs, secure housing and reduced student loan burden, is moving forward with the expansion of its Urban Work College Model to Plano, Texas.
Announced Wednesday, PQC-Plano marks the first site location the school’s Urban Work College Network. The site will place students in apartments and allow them to learn from and work with regional corporate partners beginning in the 2018-19 academic year.
By foregoing a traditional campus, PQC reduces campus maintenance costs, allowing savings to be given back to students, leaders said. Since the implementation of the Urban Work College Model in 2017, students have been able to graduate with less than $10,000 in debt, according to college officials.
“Our goal is to remake higher education from the bottom up” for those students most in need, said PQC president Dr. Michael J. Sorrell in an interview with Diverse. “We are aggressively pursuing a world where our vision for higher education becomes the norm, where colleges are challenged to do more for their students and for their communities than they’ve ever done before.”
PQC students, Plano community members and the school’s Corporate Work Program partners joined Sorrell for a live announcement about the expansion on Wednesday.
“Beginning this school year, as in right now, PQC students will live, work and take classes here in Plano,” Sorrell said to applause.
Plano mayor Harry A. LaRosiliere cited the creation of PQC-Plano as “synergy done well” and as a reminder of Plano’s “excellence” in transforming the lives of people in the community.
