“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” If you’ve spent any time near the professional world, this is a phrase you’ve almost certainly heard. It’s a reminder of the importance of networking, but for many college students, this saying represents a major problem in the system of internships and work experience. College students are constantly reminded of the value a quality internship can carry through the industry experience it gives and the relationships it can foster. Yet, unpaid internships restrict many of these opportunities to only those students who can afford them, leaving students from low-income backgrounds at a major disadvantage.
The ability to take part in an unpaid internship is a privilege that not everyone has. Looking at their summer prospects, students with deep bank accounts can feel free to explore all the opportunities an internship can offer. Sure, dedicating your time and effort to an internship that doesn’t pay is far from ideal; everyone wants to be paid for their work. But students coming from wealth can often shrug off this grievance. The glamorous internship that might boost them to the job of their dreams is too good of an opportunity to pass up. After all, they can ride the privilege of their family’s bank accounts for one more summer.
However, while looking for summer internships, many students find themselves weighed down by financial responsibility. With the same aspirations as their classmates, students from less wealthy backgrounds cannot take advantage of the same opportunities. Not everyone can work for free. Countless students need to keep working to pay their tuition or rent and sometimes help support their families. Confined to paid internships and jobs, many students are unable to accept an unpaid internship, running the danger of missing out on a key step of the ladder to success.
Of course, not all internships are unpaid. Paid internships allow students to take advantage of professional opportunities with fewer financial worries than an unpaid internship. Whether it is paid or not depends on the field and purpose of the internship.
The U.S. Department of Labor outlines the “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether interns at for-profit organizations are owed pay. If the employer gains most of the benefits from an intern, the intern is considered an employee and is entitled to compensation. However, if the employer can argue that the intern benefits more, the employer has no obligation to pay them. Additionally, internships at nonprofits or organizations in the public sector are not required to pay their interns at all.
Put simply, the internships designed to be the most beneficial to the intern are often unpaid, leaving students who cannot afford the opportunity at a major disadvantage.
It’s important to take note of the recent efforts to pay interns who have previously been unpaid, primarily in the public sector. A 2018 tweet by US Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called out her colleagues in Congress for not paying their interns as her office vowed to pay theirs. The White House recently boasted that all internship programs in the executive branch would be paid, a departure from the previous norm.
Yet, despite these efforts, unpaid internships are still painfully prevalent. According to PBS, 47% of interns in the U.S. in 2022 were unpaid.
Not only are students losing opportunities due to unpaid internships, but the internships are limiting their talent pool by not accommodating students who don’t come from wealth. If unpaid internships remain as common as they are, the impact of leaving low-income students at a disadvantage will continue to contribute to the lack of representation in the highest levels of various professional fields.
