Thank you so much for all the replies. They’ve been very helpful.
I’m sorry my posts were confusing. This was a part-time (paid) internship arranged with the help of a college professor about a year
ago. I think DC assumed the professor knew the employer personally, but I don’t know if that’s true. Anyway, DC has been working a half dozen hours/week during school as a paid intern. Over winter break they worked as a full-time intern with the understanding that an official job offer (for a position that would be full-time after graduation in May) would be coming early in the new year.
After a lot of thought and several discussions with our attorney DC decided to reject the offer. I think it was a sound decision, but I’m disappointed for them because they were so excited. There are lots of other companies, though, and DC is eager to try again.