<p>Usually the schools have a number of credits you earn for whatever…so ask them.</p>
<p>I’m boggled that some colleges charge by # of credits. At D’s LAC, a semester was a semester…didn’t matter if you were taking 12 units or 20.</p>
<p>Back in my day, internships were listed as courses (IE JOU 3201) and thus we paid for them.</p>
<p>Clarification…at my daughter’s school, you pay by the semester for the regular school year up to a certain number of credits. Beyond that, you paid by the credit for any overload. For summers and online courses, you pay by the number of credits for the course.</p>
<p>I’m actually a bit confused about this process. If a school charges you and you receive credits for internships, does that actually lessen your graduation requirement? I mean, is the internship actually effectively acting as a class?</p>
<p>I go to a school (Northeastern) that does co-op, and a standard co-op schedule has you graduate in five years, working full-time for three six-month periods of those. You do have to fill in your eight semesters of full-time class, though. While on co-op, a student doesn’t have to pay Northeastern anything. We do have co-op advisers that help us to find the jobs, but I am assuming that their salary comes out of regular tuition. I made enough money to cover all of my living expenses and buy my books the next semester on my first two co-ops, but I only got a stipend for the last one, although they can be unpaid. They appear on our transcript, but not with any connection to class credit – just as one of several ways to fill an an “experiential education requirement.”</p>
<p>some employers require students to get college credit for their internship in order not to violate fair labor law, not because it has any educational value. I have an issue with that. I would tell my kid to do something else. On the other hand, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for a school to charge for credits.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what I thought. I was just wondering if it actually did anything for you in terms of college since they insist on defining it that way. I would say it could be unethical of colleges to call that a class’s worth of credits if it is not actually doing anything to help the student progress towards a degree.</p>
<p>I don’t really have a problem with schools charging students for granting credits. If you want to count it as a class you pay. If you don’t, you don’t. U of Chicago has programs like the UROP one, where you can get a grant that gives you some money so that will give you some spending money for those unpaid internships. It’s not just for research or research on campus.</p>
<p>My older son gets paid internships. They even pay him a housing allowance and pay for his flights. Silicon Valley still has plenty of money!</p>
<p>In my case (both undergrad and graduate) the credits I got for my internship/ practicum counted towards elective credits within my major/program. In both cases, I participated during my last semester & those were the last credits I needed to receive my degree. My graduate practicum (6 credits) directly led to my current employment.</p>
<p>At D’s LAC, a semester was a semester…didn’t matter if you were taking 12 units or 20.</p>
<p>Perhaps they charged the price that would cover that- but costs are going to be higher for more classes- not only the materials and salary for prof, but facilities costs, etc.</p>
<p>You’re not only paying for the credits but the school is also paying for the professor’s supervision of the internship. As a college prof, I supervise a small number of interns each semester and also in the summer. This involves keeping in touch with the organization to make sure everything is going well, reading the intern’s daily log book and final analysis paper, dealing with school paperwork and evaluations etc. I don’t get paid much (it’s a fraction of a single course credit per intern), but my time is worth something.</p>
<p>I asked a similar question back in January… still don’t make much sense to me…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/857984-does-seem-right-you.html?highlight=internship[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/857984-does-seem-right-you.html?highlight=internship</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exactly! So where is the money going if we’re paying full tuition?</p>
<p>When my daughter did an unpaid internship at an organization that wanted to give her credits instead of pay, her school did not grant credits for internship experiences and career services wrote a letter of credit explaining the policy while supporting the value of the internship experience. In her case, they wrote that the internship was valuable in preparing for her senior thesis and and made the internship an educational experience. They organization accepted this instead of offering her credit for the summer.</p>
<p>One university program I am aware of has an 800 hour work experience requirement. The students do not earn “credit” but rather “fulfill a graduation requirement.” Seems like semantics, but the students don’t have to pay for the credits while simultaneously working for free. </p>
<p>I have to say that I am seriously negative on the ‘working for free’ bit. Last summer’s internship for my son cost us … 2 suits and several shirts and ties, 2 weeks commuting to NYC, 2 monthsapartment rental in NYC plus meals, plus a gym membership. He worked 10 weeks x40 hrs … and got his requirement out of the way … but earned no actual cash.</p>
<p>My son’s program will require lots of unpaid work … for which he will have to pay tuition. That is the nature of the beast. It’s also why I put my foot down on his school choices & told him that the one with the lowest price tag is the one he can attend.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mine does too. I work 20 hours a week (minimum) for free.</p>
<p>My S will have a required internship as well. I had no idea that I would have to pay for it!</p>
<p>My husband did a sort of internship in Silicon Valley as well - years ago, but they paid him the going wage for employees. And he stayed on after.</p>
<p>EK, a large number of colleges do not charge on a per credit basis, from UCLA to Smith. Full time is full time, regardless of number of units. Cf., an all-you-can-eat buffet. </p>
<p>I actually think it’s kind of ugly that economic cost could keep you from taking an extra class.</p>
<p>On another note, anyone trying to tie one student’s tuition to the actual cost incurred is panning for fool’s gold.</p>