Internships are great for building your resume and experience and they can really help you to get a sense of what you want to do with your degree. The only caveat to this seemingly win-win situation is the for-credit summer internship, a college student’s frenemy.
On the surface it seems great: summer internship at generally well-known company, college credit required. A lot of big name corporations require that you take your summer internship for credit… and sure, why not? The answer: you have to pay to make the internship happen.
Most summer internships will end up being around the equivalent of 3 college credits—and you have to pay for each of those credits outside of your yearly tuition. Because summer classes fall outside of the two semesters you pay tuition for— which in most cases allow you to take 18 credits without paying extra— your internship is an added expense.
But what are you paying for? While there is some scholarship money available, essentially, by paying for your for-credit internship, you’ll be paying for job experience. In no other sane world, would you pay one organization to let you work for another.
The opportunity cost of the for-credit summer internship is particularly ironic: in order to intern, you need to make a time commitment that will cut down on the number of hours you can work at a paying job. Not only can you work less, and therefore earn less, but you’ll also have to absorb the double whammy of paying as much as $1,000 per credit for the opportunity to do menial labor.
Sonia Smith over at Slate says most employers see giving credit as a way to compensate their workers, on the cheap. But there’s nothing cheap about paying $3,000 for the opportunity, right?
Christine Loman is a junior journalism major at Ithaca College.
The For-Credit Summer Internship— and Why it Sucks
By Christine Loman · April 21st, 2011 · Internships · Comments
21 April
Internships are great for building your resume and experience and they can really help you to get a sense of what you want to do with your degree. The only caveat to this seemingly win-win situation is the for-credit summer internship, a college student’s frenemy.
On the surface it seems great: summer internship at generally well-known company, college credit required. A lot of big name corporations require that you take your summer internship for credit… and sure, why not? The answer: you have to pay to make the internship happen.
Most summer internships will end up being around the equivalent of 3 college credits—and you have to pay for each of those credits outside of your yearly tuition. Because summer classes fall outside of the two semesters you pay tuition for— which in most cases allow you to take 18 credits without paying extra— your internship is an added expense.
But what are you paying for? While there is some scholarship money available, essentially, by paying for your for-credit internship, you’ll be paying for job experience. In no other sane world, would you pay one organization to let you work for another.
The opportunity cost of the for-credit summer internship is particularly ironic: in order to intern, you need to make a time commitment that will cut down on the number of hours you can work at a paying job. Not only can you work less, and therefore earn less, but you’ll also have to absorb the double whammy of paying as much as $1,000 per credit for the opportunity to do menial labor.
Sonia Smith over at Slate says most employers see giving credit as a way to compensate their workers, on the cheap. But there’s nothing cheap about paying $3,000 for the opportunity, right?
Christine Loman is a junior journalism major at Ithaca College.