<p>Perhaps I have been living under a rock, but DS called yesterday with news from his top 40 LAC that came as HUGE surprise to myself and DH. DS has the opportunity for an internship in a large school system working full-time ( unpaid)with both high school and elementary students. ( I have read the national articles about issues with unpaid internships) The educator who will be his supervisor asked him to check with his college about documentation, projects, etc. required for course credit in lieu of pay. We were all shocked to learn that his school will require a $800.00 registration fee and charge us $800 per semester hour-IOW, $4000.00 for course credit.</p>
<p>That fee comes close to the exact price per credit hour of courses this year at particular school. I am confused since I have seen many internships ( including one our DD has applied for) that will specify either small stipend or college course credit. My confusion stems from fact that this particular school has strong internship program and encourages/offers placement help to students in gaining internships. Since the number of actual "worked hours" that would be required for college to grant credit seems small, it appears the internship program is treated as a profit center for the school.</p>
<p>I know I am probably missing the obvious about tying fees to internship course credit-so please help me get perspective. Our point of view is that internships are extremely valuable during undergraduate years-regardless of any remuneration. It is just that I never thought of being charged for experience = elective credit.</p>
<p>25 years ago, my DH & I both had full time internships (40 hrs/week; 15 credits) at broadcasting companies in NYC. Not only did we have to pay tuition for those 15 credits, but we also had to pay approx $250/month each in train/bus/subway fees to travel back & forth from NJ to NYC. Plus business attire expenses and other incidentals. These companies had reams of candidates waiting to be placed there, so there was no stipend offered (although the on air talent that I worked for as his f/t assistant for 5 months did give me a nice bottle of wine at the end of my term ;)</p>
<p>It has been our family’s experience that there is a fee involved if the school arranges for an internship which is required for graduation, or if the school has any administrative duties related to awarding academic credit.
If the credits granted are not required for graduation, could your student fulfill the internship for the experience, without pay or credit?</p>
<p>Back in my day, I had to pay for any internship credits that would be counted toward graduation. I always assumed the same would apply when my kids got to that point.</p>
<p>there is a huge discussion in business circles right now regarding this matter…NYTImes article (you can google it) a couple of weeks ago stated that the US Dept of Labor is in the process of investigating unpaid internships…many companies have gotten around the “pay” issue by requiring that credit can be obtained for the internships (thereby making it part of the educational process) and, yes, all colleges, even if they don’t require the internship for graduation charge the credit price to give the student credit…</p>
<p>The only curious recent development I have heard of involves a student who took less credits the previous semester before the internship and, therefore, was able to take the “credit” internship as a spring add-on (because they were under the max for full time enrollment)…i haven’t researched this at my daughter’s school yet, but I will…when she actually receives an offer from the multitude of interviews she has had…</p>
<p>S’s Sport Management major at U South Carolina requires two internship placements (for credit) that incur tuition charges. While we were unaware of this going in, we’ve come to the realization that its a common practice.The rationalization is that you are getting the credits. The realization is you can’t get the degree w/o doing the internships.Some students are able to fit the credits into their regular academic year courseloads for the semesters , work on campus or locally and not have extra charges.S cannot since he’s in the honors college and has other requirements to fufill(like writing a senior honors thesis).
The internships can be paid or unpaid depending on the organization.S’s first one was a paid opportunity,though the pay did not equal the cost of the credits…The one he’s interviewing for now is unpaid but he would be able to live at home this summer and not incur housing costs.</p>
<p>You are paying for the credits that will go towards your total credit requirement for graduation. This is a very common practice. All the schools I or any of my kids have attended treated internship credit this way. You’re actually lucky with $800/credit hour. At some of the expensive private schools a credit hour can cost around $1,300.</p>
<p>Even the CC I am going to charges for the credit hours for an internship that will be part of the degree. Exact same price per hour as a regular class.</p>
<p>My D’s LAC did not charge for the internship…but neither did it give credit for it. </p>
<p>So in addition to working 40 hours a week, she took 14 units: 2 credits for research methodology class, 4 units for a seminar on policy making (run by a prof who flew down once a week), and 8 units for an independent research paper…hers ran roughly 80 pages.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was in the same program as TD’s D, though in a different year. We all worked full time and took night classes in order to get our credits and did independent research. And for this privilege we paid our college our regular tuition rate for the semester. It was intense.</p>
<p>I’ve seen this at D’s OOS public too. What really stings is the summer study abroad – in addition to the program fee, there is also OOS tuition for the course credit (either classes or internship) which makes it very expensive, and not well covered by F.A.</p>
<p>My son’s rotations are during his 5th year. He has to line them up by himself, pay tuition, pay for a place to stay in his college city and rotation cities (returns to school for a few days every six weeks), and gets no scholarship money during the 5th year, even though it’s a five year program.</p>
<p>Where I go there is something called “UROP” or “Undergraduate Research Opportunity,” which gives you free elective credit, but counts the same as taking the credit in a class. If someone’s taking 18 credits they have to pay extra to do this.</p>
<p>Georgiatwins, (I SO owe you an email, by the way … I promise to get to it … so much to tell you), my D is doing an internship this term for credit & isn’t paying because her school has a flat fee rather than a per credit fee. However, when she was asked by the firm to intern in the summer, she told she would only do it if she could do it without credit. It would cost a small fortune for the credit, and the internship is unpaid.</p>
<p>Paid per credit tuition charges for 8 required credits of internship at Emerson College for my D who majored in Television Video Production. She graduated in 2004. And also paid her living expenses while doing so, since she was ‘interning’ with zero compensation at least 40 hours a week and had to give up her part time job. </p>
<p>Son on the other hand actually earned very good money working coop while at Northeastern University. He earned enough money to cover his living expenses during those periods and Northeastern does not collect tuition during coop periods.</p>
<p>Same thing is about to happen for DD who needs nine hours of a “connecting experience” in a special program she is in. I’m having the same reaction. Seems like less work for the college, and they seem all too happy to let DD find her own gig.</p>
<p>Sorry, but this is not unusual if you want CREDITS…you have to pay for them. DS went to a music program affiliated with a university. He was able to get credits there…for a fee (it was where he was attending college). Student teachers get to pay to get their credits. In our area, there is a program affiliated with one of the colleges to get certification. There is a stipend paid to the intern, but the college credits are paid for by the intern too.</p>
<p>If you want college credits…you have to pay the colleges.</p>
<p>thumper: yes, but even if you don’t want/need credits, many internships that are non-paying require that you get them…and, as you said, if you have to get them, you gotta pay for them…</p>
<p>A little OT but related…DD needs to take one online course to complete her degree (she had to drop a course for medical reasons and this is to make this up). She only NEEDS three credits ($1500) but the only course that will fulfill her requirement is FIVE credits ($2500). Guess what…we’re paying that extra $1000…no choice.</p>
<p>as a follow up question, then, how does one know how many credits they have to pay for? is it based on the number of hours/week worked? an earlier poster mentioned 40 hours/15 credits…if we have to pay 15 credits over the summer, I’ll croak…</p>