Comments on: 5 Thoughts About Unpaid Internships

By: Dwayne Callis

Dwayne Callis — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:35:34 +0000

You may want to do some research on University of Dreams. I have read and heard interviews with many students that interned with U of D and their sentiments echo those of Emily above.Earlier this year there was lots of talk about these “paid for internships”, but the benefits and cost that Emily spells out were never really mentioned.

By: Emily Luiz

Emily Luiz — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:10:09 +0000

I did an internship through the University of Dreams program and I didn’t think it was a rip off at all. I wanted to move to Chicago, but not by myself and had a hard time finding a place to live and getting in contact with employers since I wasn’t familiar with the area at all. With the U of D you don’t just get an internship, you get housing with at least a 100 other students, weekend activities, two meals a day, seminars with accomplished professionals and more. I’m still in contact with a lot of my friends from that program and I got school credit for it.

By: Gary Alan Miller

Gary Alan Miller — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:33:56 +0000

Unpaid internships have always been a reality in some industries, and in the past few years they’ve become increasingly prevalent. In an ideal world, students would get paid for their internships. But, an ideal world is not where we live.I do think that unpaid internships favor those who can afford to not work for pay. To say otherwise is folly — of course it helps if one doesn’t have to earn money to pay for school or rent. Some employers demand a full-time schedule of their interns, which doesn’t leave much time for making needed rent money. But, I do agree that there are ways to make things work, and students should explore all of those options.Many campuses have programs that make unpaid internships more realistic even for those that need to be paid.
For example, here at UNC we have a $1000 stipend that students who are
interning with a non-profit or arts organization can apply for. And
there are other types of support available on campus, for travel or for
positions that involve doing research, for example.The heart of the argument is to not discount something simply because it’s unpaid. Explore all options and then make informed decisions.

By: Joe Testani

Joe Testani — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:47:54 +0000

Well-stated…. I work for a University and assist traditional-aged undergraduate students (18-22) explore their career options as well as search for internships, jobs and graduate school. There are laws that do govern internships (FLSA: Fair Labor Standards Act) but there are those firms that do take advantage of students that truly are looking for experience to get an edge in a field or just “try-on” a career or job to see if it is something that they would like to pursue in the future. We are looking for ways as a university to support more of these students with funding so it is not just for “wealthy kids” but for all students that are interested in learning and making informed decisions about their careers after they graduate. Internships that are unpaid also need not be 40 hours a week and can sometimes be crafted to the schedule and factors that often influence these decisions (housing, paying their way through college, flexibility, etc). Thank you for your posting as well as your comments…

By: Trisha Ross

Trisha Ross — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:08:02 +0000

I agree with your posting, I also read this article and then re-read it and found myself disagreeing with a lot of it. I work for a non-profit organization in Pittsburgh, Coro Center for Civic Leadership. The program that I work within is The Regional Internship Center of Southwestern Pennsylvania. We are a free online clearinghouse that connects internship seekers with employers in 14 counties in our region. Employers post their internship position descriptions and the seekers apply for them by sending their resumes and cover letters through our system. We also agree that an internship should be mutually beneficial and we monitor the postings that are on our site. In addition, we host employer workshops on best internship practices and we give presentations to universities on the benefits of internships. Thank you for this posting!