In the Business School, internships are a way of life. From day one, we’re put on the hunt for the elusive post-sophomore year internship, to be followed by the lucrative post-junior year internship, which hopefully turns into the post-graduation full time job.
Especially after sophomore year, though, there’s a tacit understanding that the internship will likely be unpaid, or perhaps underpaying. The problem is, not everyone can afford to work an entire summer for little to no pay. This dilemma would perpetuate an achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic statuses, as wealthier students could pad their resumes with unpaid internships.
However, the answer is not to ban unpaid internships: this would eliminate a valuable source of experiential learning and sever a vital link between the private sector and academia. Minimum internship wages are also not the answer, as mandated wage floors would price some smaller companies out of the internship market while sending the best students flocking to deep-pocketed corporations.
Rather, at least here at UNC, we should strive to create more scholarship and grant opportunities for those pursuing unpaid internships. University Career Services has a list of available funding opportunities, but many of the individual grants are narrowly focused and highly selective .
The state GOP is getting battered over education policy, and state funding for education is a constant battleground in the General Assembly. Republicans say they want to fund education, just not the failing public schools system or useless liberal arts degrees. That’s why there’s broad GOP support for school vouchers and vocational programs.
Unpaid internship funding could be the first step in the GOP’s reconciliation with higher education. By subsidizing unpaid internships, the GOP can win on two fronts: they are in fact funding education, but they aren’t funding majors that don’t help students get jobs. The education establishment will be happy, and the GOP’s base will be happy.
And the main beneficiaries will be students. Internships, paid or not, provide nuance and context to classroom learning that students can’t get anywhere else. During internships, students can quickly figure out which lecture concepts are important and which aren’t.
Internship subsidization should be tailored to UNC, at least at the beginning. This is a narrow solution to a broad problem, but if it works on a small scale here, it could be a piece to the bigger puzzle. There are only so many ways we can, or even should, try to even the playing field for less fortunate students with taxpayer money.
However, an investment in experiential education targets the issue without exacerbating the root problem. If the state subsidizes unpaid internships, more companies would be likely to offer unpaid internships and then more students could take these unpaid internships because they don’t have to worry about surviving on no income. The result is a more experienced and more engaged workforce.
