Editorial: It’s time to stop unpaid internships

Internships are a large part of the college experience. At Illinois State University there are internship fairs to give students opportunities to find an internship, and certain major programs even require a certain amount of internship credit for graduation. Internships give students important experience to enter the workforce with the necessary years of experience. Given the essential nature of internships for many students and career paths, the age of unpaid internships needs to end.

Research has shown that having an internship greatly increases the likelihood of getting a job by graduation. In the data compiled for a congressional report by the nonprofit Pay Our Interns, they report that students with internship experience were over 50% more likely to receive a job offer after graduation. The whole point of college is to gain the knowledge and skill to enter the workforce, but unpaid internships shut certain people out of that possibility.

Unpaid internships increase inequity among college students of different backgrounds. College students who rely on financial aid to go to college often simply cannot afford to do an internship that is unpaid. Some might be able to find a part-time job to offset their internship experiences, but the added time and emotional commitment can lead to a decrease in academic performance, and worse student mental health.

Students should not have to decide between having the money they need for food and shelter or getting the experience they need to get the job they are in college to get in the first place. Their personal mental and physical well-being is not an acceptable price for getting a future career.

Many companies and colleges market diversity as one of their core values, but how is that value measured? The demographic of those who can afford to do an unpaid internship, due to parents or other benefactors paying for part or all of their educational expenses, is predominantly white. With unpaid internships being especially common in fields like journalism and political science, these fields are concentrated with applicants and hires from predominantly white and middle to upper class backgrounds.

Some might argue that it isn’t financially feasible for all internships to be paid. After all, if an internship is all about having a learning experience, like in the classroom, then why should employers have to pay to teach students skills? The thing is, while there are certainly educational aspects to internship work, a large portion of them is exactly that — work.

If the work done by interns is important to employers, then that work should be financially compensated. The Conversation discusses this issue and the current research and provides some ideas about how to pay these interns. For example, Pay Our Interns put pressure on policymakers in Washington, D.C., to pay their interns, given the wide number of interns employed by the federal government, which worked and created better, paid opportunities. Providing government funding for nonprofit internship programs and tax incentives and grants for businesses who have interns would similarly help employers keep hiring interns and help students from all backgrounds afford to take them.

Just because work is being done by a college student does not mean that that work is unimportant. To push for a more equitable future, we must stop unpaid internships.