A lifeguard. A waitress. Working for your dad-again. With approximately one month of school remaining, many students decide their plans for summer employment.
“It’s a toss up whether to get a job that pays little or nothing at all but looks good on your résumé or to get a traditional job where you have fun and make some money,” said Tim Sheehan ’04.
Many students are in the same position as Sheehan, wondering how to spend their time during the summer.
“I need to make money for school during the summer,” said Liz Orgera ’06. “If I want an internship that will help me in the future, I might have to find another way to save for school.”
Schools across the country recognize the dilemma students are faced with and some are trying to help.
Last summer, officials at Southern Methodist University’s business school gave stipends of up to $2,500 for students who took nonpaying internships positions over traditional summer jobs.
Tufts University created summer jobs for their students on campus that will help them with the majors and better prepare them for graduate school.
Here at Fairfield, where students are encouraged to work at an internship either junior senior year, there has been no talk to for of enacting similar policies.
“I haven’t heard any discussion of the university subsidizing students who do unpaid internships,” said Betsy Bowen, Ph.D., former coordinator of English internships. “I suspect that any such plan would be so expensive and so difficult to administer fairly that there is little likelihood of its being implemented.”
Students at Fairfield who do work at a summer internships and receive university credit usually do not get paid for their work and have to pay tuition for the course.
“I’ve thought about getting a summer internship, but I would have to pay over $1,000 and still not get paid from the job. It’s just crazy,” said Orgera.
Not only is finding an internship difficult, but finding any summer job often becomes a problem due to the increase of people entering the workforce in the summer months.
However, students are encouraged to take part in internship experiences.
“The internship I had was invaluable,” Sheehan said. “I definitely couldn’t have given up my summer job for it-that just wouldn’t be practical.”
Bowen agreed that internships are an important part of getting ready for the workforce.
“Good internships can be really valuable for students,” said Bowen. “They help students develop new skills, gain confidence and attract attention from potential employers.”
For many students, a summer internship just is not realistic.
“Right now I’m at a point where I have to figure out what to do,” said Orgera. “Sadly enough, I feel like the actual responsible choice would be to forget about the internship and make some money doing mindless work.”
However, just because a summer internship does not fit the lifestyle of many students, it does not mean students have to rule out internships all together.
“I’ll just have to get an internship during the school year,” said Orgera. “I’m just happy I figured this all out before I registered for classes.”
While unpaid internships may be beneficial on some aspects, others believe it is not right to work for free.
“Its unfortunate-even wrong-that employers can expect students to do summer internships without pay, but I don’t think that’s going to change for a while,” said Bowen.
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