As the number of unpaid internships available to college students continues to rise, debate over the legality of many of these positions has been renewed across the nation.
Under standards set by the federal government, interns must be closely supervised, receive training similar to that of a vocational school or other academic institution and must not displace regular employees or immediately benefit the company.
But many companies aren’t meeting these standards, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on the economic condition of low- and middle-income Americans.
“In the private sector, most of the unpaid internships are illegal because most don’t involve a structured environment, and many don’t provide any advantage to the students,” EPI vice president Ross Eisenbrey said. “They don’t get paid for the work they are doing when, in many cases, they ought to be paid at least minimum wage.”
Eisenbrey also said many internships are not viable options for students from lower- and middle-class families who cannot afford to take an unpaid position.
While that may not be illegal, it is certainly a problem that needs to be rectified, he said, because it puts some students at a disadvantage.
“It’s something that blocks career opportunities for low-income students whose families can’t afford to send them off for three months without being paid,” Eisenbrey said. “If the family is struggling, they can’t put them in such an internship, and it’s increasingly the case that industries like fashion and publishing pretty much require new hires to have done an internship.”
Even outside of the fashion and publishing industries, employers look for applicants with internship experience, said Sue Simmerman, ASU’s assistant director for experiential education at Career Services.
Based on a national survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2009, 76 percent of all employers prefer to hire college graduates who possess relevant work experience.
“In the current economy, a college degree is a minimum requirement to obtain a professional position. Therefore, when college grads apply for a professional position, they are competing against other grads who possess similar degrees,” Simmerman said. “Grads who have internship experience stand out over those who don’t when it comes to the relevant experience that employers prefer.”
However, being unpaid doesn’t influence the value of an internship in any way, she said.
“There’s no direct correlation between internship pay and quality of an internship experience,” she said. “There are many unpaid internships that are of significant value to students, while there are many paid internships that provide little value.”
Vault Careers International, a career management and job search information company, compiles a list of top internships each year and listed several unpaid positions in its top 10 internships for this year.
Three companies offering unpaid internships are included in Vault’s top 10 overall internships and seven in its top 10 liberal arts internships.
Top unpaid internships include Nickelodeon Animation Studios and the Smithsonian Institute.
Many of Vault’s top internships and others nationwide also offer course credit for participants.
While academic credit cannot legally replace monetary compensation according to Eisenbrey, Simmerman said that for ASU students, this is one way to ensure a quality internship.
“One of the advantages of receiving credit for an internship is having an ASU internship coordinator review the internship description and objectives to make sure that it will be a good learning experience,” she said.
One local organization that offers course credit for unpaid interns each year is the Mesa Historical Society and Museum.
Former assistant director and curator of collections at the museum Kaia Landon said the program has had students from all three Arizona universities and several out-of-state universities receive course credit for their participation.
“Normally we have [our interns] do a variety of things depending on their interests, which benefits them in different ways depending what their goals are,” Landon said. “You learn a lot of things that are not related to museum work, and in some cases, it’s more about the intangible benefits — organization skills, writing skills, skills with details.”
History senior and current intern Catherine Vale said she has benefited from her time at the museum in more ways than one.
Vale plans to pursue a graduate degree next fall followed by a career in museum work.
“[The internship] helped me get into grad school, for one,” Vale said about the program’s benefits. “Plus it helped give me a real-world understanding of how a museum works. I had a general idea that’s what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how a museum works as a business. It has really helped me see the different areas and careers available.”
Vale also agreed with Landon that some of the benefits can be intangible.
“It’s been good to learn how to work and know you’re not going to get paid for it, but that there’s other benefits,” she said. “[For example], learning how to have a work ethic without that monetary benefit.”
ASU molecular biosciences and biotechnology senior Josue Lopez is currently working at ASU’s TGen facility as part of his second unpaid internship.
During his first semester at TGen, Lopez received course credit toward his major, and he enjoyed his experience so much he decided to continue his internship this semester without receiving payment or academic credit.
“I work closely with a [post-doctoral student] and take part in an individual project that contributes to the overall goal of the lab. The postdoc is a great aid in the lab since she will explain things and walk me through the process of new techniques,” Lopez said. “Interning has overall been an experience that has led me to enjoy research and pursue higher education in order to continue researching on my own.”
While both TGen and The Mesa Historical Society and Museum’s internships appear to meet all the federal requirements, Eisenbrey said too many “illegal” internships offer students the same benefits, preventing enforcement or reform of the current standards.
“A lot of interns report at least they can put it on their resume that they worked at Vogue or a major production company, even if all they did was pack boxes or get coffee and got familiar with it,” he said. “There’s that benefit, but the law doesn’t recognize it as enough for workers to go unpaid. It’s still illegal.”
Reach the reporter at keshoult@asu.edu
