I found this article touched on some really interesting topics concerning internships. The article pretty much highlights the debate around paying for internships during the summer if students want course credit. Some people argue against the idea that students should be paying more money to the school, only during the summer (which by the way, is when most people want to intern), if they want to intern and get college credit; this is due to the fact that it is not only out of their own will they choose to intern, but it’s a requirement for their degree. So what’s the issue? Its like taking a class and paying for it, right? Some may argue, its not so simple. There are other factors such as the expenses that go along with interning. Some factors that the article brought up were traveling, weather that be buying a car and paying for gas, or constantly paying for metro cards during the summer. But this can of course extend to other realms such as supplies one may need in order to fulfill certain tasks within their internship. Also, people gotta eat, am I right? Nonetheless, in addition to paying the school for the intern credit, they must dish out money for the expense that go a long with it, some expenses that students simply cannot offered. Furthermore, those against this notion will raise the question of whether an internship is really a “class” or a “job.” Non-paid internships for school as a “class” seems just like work with no pay and some experience for college credit. The distinction between a class and a job really highlights the issue of whether or not internships are a part of Higher Eds. Turf.
On the other hand, according to the article, some people in favor of this pay to Intern College credit dilemma simply say that if you are getting credit from the college, you pay them for the credits as you would any other classes, end of story. Of course they would be ignoring some of the factors we discussed above, but regardless the premise stands and is a simple but very powerful one. It just seems like they should be getting paid, or not have to pay the colleges, because we think of class not really as work, but perhaps it is, just a different kind of work. And when someone “works” they get paid; you don’t get paid to go to school. Its not the kind of work that the word “job” has connotations too, but nonetheless, its work, just a different type.
I really enjoyed this article due to the content and the debate that it discussed. It seems that this would have a real impact on the lower and lower-middle class students looking to make connections. But I really like the approach the author used to introduce the topic by using a personal account of a student. I find this technique to be very powerful and persuasive. Either way, enjoys the article, and I’d love to hear what you guys think! I tend to lean towards against having to pay for these internships.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/17/when-students-pay-tuition-work-unpaid-internships
Alex, I thought this was a really great article that discussed a relevant topic. Personally, I believe that if a student is doing an internship entirely off campus there isn’t a reason to make that student pay money to his or her university. I would stand by that opinion even if the student were earning credit for the internship. I mean, why should the student have to pay to do an internship when the college doesn’t even lose any money. In the event that there is some faculty involvement in finding the internship or creating and grading assignments along the way then maybe the student should pay something. After all, you can’t make the professor work for free. Nonetheless, charging over $3,000 (to the student in the article) does seem to an excessive amount.
Additionally, I don’t even like the idea that students should have to intern for free. As the article stated, many students need to complete and internship in order to graduate. However, many of these students are likely to be poor and are forced to intern in the summer when they could have been earning money at some kind of job. Needless to say, this can put significantly hurt students who are less financially sound. I understand that students are (hopefully) learning important skills when they intern, but I don’t think that’s enough of a payoff to not pay them any wages.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.