Internship for credit? Am I getting ripped off?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>I just got an internship! However, I am being asked to receive course credit at UCLA, instead of getting paid. To be honest, I don't mind working for minimum wage/free, I want the experience. But, taking it for course credit means I have to do weekly papers (complete BS topics), bi weekly meetings and a final research paper. So in addition to a hard workload, an unpaid internship, I have to take another BS course?! Any advice on what I can do? Should I ask my employer if I can work for a low wage or as a "volunteer" so I don't have to add a class?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>The government minds if you work for free. Even if you ask if you can “volunteer”, you will not get hired because of the legal risk.</p>

3

<p>well, government agencies have unpaid interns, so there is some room there.</p>

<p>Your college makes you write weekly papers, have lots of meetings, and write a research paper to get credit for an internship? That’s terrible… the internship is supposed to be the “class”</p>

4

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<p>Weird, I must have deleted a sentence. Yes, it is possible to have unpaid internships, but there are a set of requirements. Either your prospective employer did not feel they could satisfy those criteria or it is somehow significantly cheaper for them if you take the coursework route.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf[/url]”>http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>I agree with your initial reaction that you are being taken advantage of. Do you have to also pay for the “opportunity” to get the college credit? If I were you I would keep looking for something else. How much time before you start? Can you take this one and before you start keep looking for something better? Are you in a position where you need the income from the internship to pay for your expenses? </p>

<p>D had an internship last summer that was paid but by a stipend of a minimal amount. The organization, which wasn’t a non-profit by the way, expected more and more from her over the summer in terms of hours and responsibility. I think we figured out she was making about $2 an hour which wasn’t even enough to pay for her gas. She needed to earn her spending money for the year and had to make up what she didn’t get on this job scraping at other part time jobs elsewhere. By the end of the summer she and I both felt that she had been somewhat taken advantage of - the company got a great summer worker and paid next to nothing. I personally think that is wrong.</p>

6

<p>The fact is that the vast majority of companies that hire unpaid interns are out of compliance with federal law.</p>

<p>Federal law states that unpaid internships must follow the following rules (among others):

  1. The internship is educational/job training.
  2. The internship is for the intern’s benefit.
  3. The intern does not displace employees.
  4. **The employer derives no immediate benefit from the intern and may in fact be impeded by the intern<a href=“99%%20of%20employers%20are%20out%20of%20compliance%20with%20this%20rule”>/b</a>.</p>

<p>[U.S&lt;/a&gt;. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Fact Sheet](<a href=“http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm]U.S”>Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act | U.S. Department of Labor)
<a href=“The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not - The New York Times”>The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not - The New York Times;

<p>As you can imagine, however, unpaid interns typically do not file complaints with the Labor Dept.</p>

<p>This generally does not apply to non-profits.</p>