Saturday, May 25, 2013 6:59 AM

Unpaid internships are unfair

By Josie Oliver, Photojournalist  |  Sunday, May 6, 2012 10:07 PM

Ask any college student what two things they need more of, and I guarantee the top answers would be time and money. That’s why, among many reasons, it’s unfair for companies to use college students as unpaid interns.

opinion

Companies are exploiting college students by hiring and often misclassifying them as interns so that they don’t have to pay them for their work. Many college students willingly take these positions because they are in desperate need of resume-building experiences and are unable to find paying positions.

One of the requirements for an unpaid internship is that it should be for educational purposes. Companies should give the intern the same amount of experience a classroom would, and students should not have to pay the university to complete their internship.

Paying the university for credits places an unfair financial burden on the student, and it dilutes the overall experience.

However, many would argue that the experience gained at a company in your field outweighs the disadvantages of working for free and doing hands-on work for a company may be more beneficial than learning in a classroom.

But students who are not financially independent and receive extra help from their parents may be at an advantage. Many students are expected to pay tuition, monthly bills, rent and other expenses on their own while attending school. If you don’t have the responsibility of paying for these things on your own, you can afford to take an unpaid position.

I chose to take an unpaid internship last fall because I thought it would give me valuable experience in a field I hope to go into someday. I didn’t receive credit for this internship because I wasn’t financially stable enough to pay St. Thomas for the credit. However, many companies state that they make receiving credit for internships mandatory because they fear violating labor laws.

Though I don’t exactly regret the experience, I feel that I was exploited for my work and never received the recognition I deserved. However, because this was an unpaid position, I was still working three other jobs at the same time to help pay monthly bills and personal expenses.

I had to work more than 50 hours a week some weeks while being a full-time student, and there were times when I got home late at night from a long day and would choose sleep over schoolwork.

Internships are an excellent way to gain work experience and build resumes, but when the internship is unpaid, not everyone has the same opportunity to gain from this experience.

Employers are often misclassifying employees as interns in order to get free labor from well-educated students. Internships are supposed to be for the benefit of the student, but it seems unfair that companies are exploiting college students by benefiting from their free labor.

Josie Oliver can be reached at oliv4246@stthomas.edu.

This item was posted in Opinions and has 12 comments so far.

12 Comments

  1. Don Nollet
    May. 7, 2012 9:10 AM

    Workers being exploited? That never happens anywhere—duh!

  2. Sarah Smith
    May. 7, 2012 11:03 AM

    While I disagree in unpaid internships being unfair, I do agree that it seems unreasonable to have St. Thomas force us to pay for credits we could be earning through these internships. I also elected not to earn credit for my internship that I work at 20+ hours a week (in addition to my two other jobs) because I could not financially justify having to essentially pay $4000 to work at my internship just to receive acknowledgment from St. Thomas by earning credits. I believe since other local schools, such as U of Mn are able to award their students credit for unpaid internships St. Thomas should do the same or at the very least offer a discounted price per credit.

  3. John Mettcalf
    May. 7, 2012 5:48 PM

    Wah Wah Wah.  

    Life isn’t fair, and people need to start to realize that.  Trust me, doing unpaid internships will work off in the long-run as it usually (and in my case) leads to another internship that is paid.  Also, its incredible experience that will get you better jobs after graduation.

    Sometimes you have to do the grunt work to reap the benefits.  That’s life. 

  4. Tom Kreitzer ‘11
    May. 8, 2012 7:50 AM

    You have GOT to be kidding me… this opinion piece is the equivalent of me saying, “having two finals the same day is unfair for the student”… Give me a break. 

    College is not about getting everything on a silver platter. If you want to be successful, work for it! I just finished my first year of grad school while bartending for money with an unpaid internship at a non-profit. Guess what, it was worth it! That unpaid internship DIRECTLY led to a salaried position in a government agency. 

    Also, unpaid internships are not supposed to be just “beneficial to the studens”, they give companies the chance to see what people are made of. Volunteering your time to an institution shows them that you are committed for something beyond just a paycheck… that maybe the work you are doing is genuine. Unpaid internships are just like any other part of growing up in today’s society…get used to it.

    On another note, after seeing a TM piece on “Be Professional” and “Unpaid Internships are Unfair”, when can I expect the article on “Learning that Life isn’t a Bunch of Handouts, and You Actually Have to Work for What You Want Without Complaining”?

  5. Brendan Ekstrom
    May. 8, 2012 8:06 AM

    Life isn’t fair; that’s true. But thankfully we have laws to help even the playing field, such as minimum wage and other labor laws. Some unpaid internships are illegal. But, that’s life, I guess.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html

  6. John Mettcalf
    May. 8, 2012 3:06 PM

    “Even the playing field”.  Congrats Brendan, you wouldn’t think this country was founded on Capitalism at all!

  7. Brendan Ekstrom
    May. 8, 2012 3:49 PM

    Congrats? Did I win an award?

  8. Carl Lymangood
    May. 8, 2012 6:42 PM

    I completely agree with this article, I hope I never have to go through life experiencing delayed gratification either.

  9. Sarah Milligan
    May. 9, 2012 11:33 AM

    John Mettcalf, you are the most ignorant person I have ever met

  10. Diane Kulseth
    May. 9, 2012 11:40 AM

    I had an unpaid internship my senior year of college. I still made money through other internships, so that way I could manage my expenses. I was drawn to this internship, because I saw it as a company that could give me great experience. And, it did precisely that. While unpaid, this up and coming internet magazine helped me gain exposure to CEOs of major internet companies, having bylines in Forbes online and the Huffington Post for articles I’d write, and having the ability to stretch my expertise beyond what was my written job duties.It was hard, but it was rewarding. No matter what, experience is experience. Would you ask to get paid for holding a vice-presidency in a student club? No. Is it hard work balancing an unpaid internship with your other obligations? Absolutely. But in the end, it’s those without the sense of entitlement that go out and earn their rightful pay, not those who complain about getting great experience for no cost. Sometimes you can’t put a dollar amount on a good experience. 

  11. John Mettcalf
    May. 10, 2012 3:21 PM

    Sarah, instead of attacking me with baseless playground insults, I’d appreciate it if you could make somewhat of a dignified response.  

  12. Natalie
    Aug. 20, 2012 6:52 PM

    I think unpaid internships are unfair because some students come from lower income families and can’t afford to work for free on top of paying for those credits. Big names corporations like Merk, Proctor & Gamble etc, offer paid internships because they realize the some students do need to work for money. Not everyone comes from a family where their parents support them through college. I, for exame, pay for my tuition out of pocket and support myself. I was lucky enough to find a paid internship and admire the company I’m interning for, for giving me that ooportunity.

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