<p>My D has done two unpaid internships for non-profits. Each time it was 10-15 hours a week during the summer so she worked another job (or 3 last summer) simultaneously to make money. Both gave her really good experience and one helped her understand what she doesn’t want to do! She has a paid internship now although she had the option of unpaid for credit or paid without credit. Barnard does have grants for students doing unpaid internships so they can get money they would have been making if they were working other jobs. Then again, my D still works 3 jobs, including the internship. </p>
<p>The company she’s interning for now has told her they are interested in hiring her as a freelancer after her internship is over. That has her pretty excited. </p>
<p>The way she describes it, it’s almost impossible to get a paid internship if you don’t have one or two unpaid ones on your resume. She can tend to exaggerate though! It could just be that it is difficult to get paid internships until you’re a junior. </p>