<p>So in my program, we are required to do an internship during the summer between our 4th and 5th semesters. This is worth 6 credit hours. We have to pay for these credit hours (~$350/hr for me) for us to work for somebody. That alone doesn't seem right. Our program director told a couple of us the other day that since there's only 5 of us who will be doing internships this summer the university informed her that she wasn't going to get paid for managing it. As of right now, we're still going to have to pay the tuition, but where is that money going exactly if the professor isn't getting paid and we're offcampus? </p>
<p>Definitely sounds to me like a university who wants to screw us out of money. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Not that strange if you’re earning college credit for your internship (i.e. it will go on your transcript as “internship”. All colleges charge their students for the credits awarded to them by the college, and if you’re doing something and you want to get credit for it, then you have to pay for the credits you earn. Presumably they help you in other ways (with finding the internship? Or being a student earning college credit often makes you more attractive to internship givers because they think you will take it more seriously than a student who’s just doing it for experience). </p>
<p>Most colleges that have organized internship programs charge their students tuition while they are participating in the program.</p>
<p>Gotta agree with SmithieandProud. When I did my master’s degree work, I had three equivalent internships/field work experiences. Had to pay for all three of them. You are getting college credit for it. Why would you expect not to pay for those hours to show up on your transcript?</p>
<p>Well what I would expect is that the University actually doing something for my tuition dollars. None of the stuff that I have to turn in for my internship will be graded, read, etc. Otherwise how is it any different than them putting transfer credits onto the transcript? They aren’t doing any work but it appears on the transcript still…</p>
<p>I can guarantee you that internship programs require work on the part of the university. It may not be obvious to you, but maintaining and administrating internship programs is work.</p>
<p>Credits are awarded to you for your work, not the work of the professor. You have the privilege of earning a degree when the university determines that adequate effort and achievement has been earned. Applying transfer credit is a favor to you.</p>
<p>*Most colleges that have organized internship programs charge their students tuition while they are participating in the program. *</p>
<p>Really? My son has done a college-arranged internship for the past 2 summers and not only did he NOT have to pay the university, but he got paid $5k each summer for his work.</p>
<p>I hope the OP finds an internship that will either pay him or reimburse him for his summer tuition.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids - were these internships required for graduation? If not, then I can understand why he did not have to pay. Will they end up on his transcript? Is he getting class credit for them?</p>
<p>I was responding to the quote that “Most colleges that have organized internship programs charge their students tuition while they are participating in the program.” I was giving an example where a school didn’t charge tuition for an organized internship.</p>
<p>That said, my younger son will be required to do a similar summer program for credit, but there will be prof involvement the entire 5 week period. The school won’t be charging 6 credits of tuition just to make an date entry onto a transcript.</p>
<p>In the OP’s case, the university will be pocketing over $10k, just to make one entry onto each of 5 transcripts. I think in such a case, the # of credits should be dropped to - say 3. Enough for a transcript entry, but not so much to be cash cow for the school for little work. </p>
<p>Schools do 100 times more work processing an application for $75 bucks.</p>
<p>At my school, you can take your for-credit internship (if required) during the semester - that way you do not have to pay “extra” tuition, and still have summers free to make money. Additionally, you can take a for-credit internship class during the semester, and then take the internship during the summer. Again, so you aren’t paying that “extra” cost. Also, some majors/departments allow you to take a “non credit” class with no tuition fee, but the fact that you did an internship is still logged onto your transcript and can still count towards their graduation requirements.</p>
<p>I do find it /quite/ odd that this is a required internship for credit, and that you must pay for it on TOP of the tuition you already pay for the semester.</p>
<p>How do you think these internships are arranged? Do you think school administrators post a listing for any company looking to hire cheap employees for three months to call them and that’s it? Do you think these companies let the interns loose on day 1 and have no on supervising them (which DOES cost the companies extra resources). Most decent universities have very strict standards on which companies they can or will not partner with. And those partnerships require regular field visits from school administrators who assess the program on a regular basis. These internship directors often travel across the country to meet with prospective internship companies to make sure they’re up to the school’s standards. And although you may not see this, they are most likely collaborating with someone in these companies to create learning goals.</p>
<p>Again, I’m not talking about the kinds of internships that many kids get during the summer (my own D had two) for experience on their resumes. My bet is that the companies that provide opportunities for students to get credit on their transcripts have to meet certain expectations, and how else are the school and student (and parents) going to know if the company is providing the proper learning experience and not placing someone at the switchboard for the entire summer? </p>
<p>Directors of field education also spend a lot of time building bridges in various industries in order to create new opportunities for future students. Yes, maybe there’s not a professor attending work everyday with these interns (or never, probably), but it doesn’t mean the university does not use significant resources to make these required positions available to its students. How are these field educators going to get paid?</p>
<p>Also, by your same logic, when education students do their student teaching, which is required for graduation, they shouldn’t have to pay tuition to earn those credits.</p>
<p>We have an internship program that requires the coordination of one professor (who is paid the equivalent of a semester’s 3 credit course for administering it). He secures the placements (that part is a lot of work), interviews students, does matches, coordinates/communicates between the organization and the student and school, manages the paperwork. I think it comes out to equivalent to teaching a course…no one else wants to take it on another year after doing one year. So that might account for some of the cost.</p>
<p>Here’s one for you…S1’s major required a summer internship for credit between jr/sr. year.
He was unable to do it due to a military commitment. His dept. agreed to waive the internship for him under the circumstances.</p>
<p>BUT…since the internship credit had to appear on his transcript for him to graduate, he still had to register for the internship as a summer school class and we had to pay for it!</p>
<p>Well actually I’ve been busting my butt for the last 2 months already applying for internships and will likely be doing so for another two months or longer. No involvement from anybody at the school up to this point. All our program director will do is sign the contract and maybe fax it to the organization. </p>
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<p>We pay be credit hour anyway. So it doesn’t really matter when you take the class…</p>
<p>Someone at the university is responsible for soliciting those internships and making sure they meet the school’s requirements. That takes a lot of work. You’re paying for that as well as the fact that you’re getting university credit for those internships.</p>
<p>Just answered that above. Some departments may do that at my university, but my department does not. All of our students are basically on their own. Do the faculty have connections? Sure, but not solely because they are looking for internship locations. That’s our job.</p>
<p>You are paying for your college credits…not the professor’s salary. When I did my student internship in my field, it was a full term. <em>I</em> paid the tuition for the credits. And that was that.</p>
Bad analogy, as some colleges actually don’t charge tuition for student teaching. Off the top of my head, I know that Grinnell’s Ninth-Semester Program for education students’ student teaching is free of cost. I can probably find some more examples if need be.</p>
<p>Adding to mom2collegekids’s posts, that school in question does charge for internships if you want credit, but it is only 3 credits for 10 hours of work a week. There is something about paying tuition for all the summer sessions that the internship occurs in, but I don’t know how different the charge is from doing an internship during the year. We have an internship coordinator that has a list of opportunities, but we are allowed to intern for any company, complete 3 checkpoint assignments, and get credit. AFAIK, the school also has requirements where credit is not earned, thus no charge, but it is a degree requirement. As for grad students, I believe they receive a small stipend and in-state tuition if they teach a couple classes, but they don’t have to pay tuition for those classes.</p>
<p>Going back to the OP’s question, anything that goes on a transcript requires some work on the university’s part, be it human or computer labor. I agree that it doesn’t seem right having to do assignments that won’t ever be looked at, but you still get required credit required for your major.</p>