My sister was fortunate that our parents were willing and able to cover her living expenses. While such opportunities benefit students by padding their resumes and demonstrating work experience for future recruiters, unpaid interns face short-term consequences, such as lost wages that could be used to pay off costs like tuition. As such, taking an unpaid internship without external support is fiscally infeasible for many students, especially true given that the most sought-after positions are often located in cities with substantial living costs. Wealthier students who can apply for unpaid work without worrying about the associated expenses are placed at an immediate advantage, creating issues of self-perpetuating class privilege wherein wealthier students can gain an advantage over their peers.
While it seems easy to vilify companies that offer unpaid internships, students should also be concerned that if for-profit companies were required to pay their interns, there might be stiffer competition for fewer positions.
While white-collar company recruiters continue to demand on-the-job experience for entry-level work in an increasingly competitive job market, students are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Fortunately, a recent ruling by a U.S. district judge in New York was the first court decision to reinforce a decades-old federal law that requires unpaid internships, called "traineeships," to adhere to six criteria, including the stipulation that "the employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer's operations may actually be impeded." Experts predicted that the ruling might lead to more lawsuits against for-profit employers and company reevaluations of unpaid internships programs.
Colleges, too, ought to provide greater support for students who want to gain work experience but are prevented from doing so due to financial limitations. Fortunately for Dartmouth students, there are plentiful funding opportunities for unpaid internships through the Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Rockefeller Center, the Tucker Foundation and the Office of Undergraduate Research. These grants, however, can be competitive, and their number of beneficiaries is limited.
Thus, in cases where a student takes an unpaid internship, the College should strongly consider allowing students to receive one term's worth of credit for their experience. Doing so would allow students to recoup their time at that unpaid internship by either graduating a term early or having the ability to take a second, perhaps paid, internship in the future. This change would be analogous to course credits that the College grants to students who work with faculty conducting research. To ensure the quality of the internship, the College could mandate several stipulations an internship must provide before students could receive credit. Furthermore, the College could consider working directly with companies to establish internship programs for students akin to a business experience FSP.
To even the playing field in the competitive market, it will be up to educational institutions like Dartmouth to prepare students to compete and succeed in a tough market. In the context of unpaid internships, that means financial or curricular support.
