<p>Many colleges, including Princeton, Yale, and Williams now have programs to give substantial financial aid breaks for student internships.</p>
<p>As one whose D is on an internship through Smith College, mentioned in the article, I'll note that the internship stipend does not begin to cover the full incremental cost of the internship and that the financial aid to cover the gap was virtually all in loans.</p>
<p>The system, while improved, is still stacked in favor of students from wealthier families. While the situation is uncomfortable for us, it's possible. For some families, I don't see how they could make it work. (Note: incremental expenses include things like clothing. D's office has a strict dress code: shoes closed at both toe and heel, and either suits or jacket with top and dress slacks or skirts, hose to be worn with the latter. Ka-ching!) The stipend doesn't even cover her half of the studio apartment she's sharing with another intern. Plus the stipend isn't paid in advance and things like the security deposit and first month's rent are.</p>
<p>TheDad is right. It is a problem generally encountered in grad schools, too. Loans are disbursed several weeks after school begins, although you would be hard-pressed to find a landlord who will accept a security deposit that late. :)</p>
<p>As for cost of clothes... not cheap. At all. Sure, you can use Dryel, wear things over and over, but it's still tough to make a strict dress code on a budget. IMO, absolutely senseless of employers to not pay their interns yet require them to wear expensive clothing. The only thing I can suggest is that students can see this cost coming and begin to amass a professional wardrobe, finding good-quality clothing when it goes on sale. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, colleges that pay its students for such internships is a step in the right direction. Of course, it just discourages the government or film or whatever agencies from actually paying the students in order to get top talent - that cost has shifted to the colleges.</p>
<p>My D will be doing a semester-long internship in NYC this fall. Since it is counting as her college semester and is through her university(Duke), we basically pay about the same for the semester as we would pay had she chosen to remain an on-campus regular student. In addition to the internship, she will be attending classes with her school's professors in addition to one NYU class of her choice. All of the students are housed together in a dorm-like atmosphere created from a few floors of a hotel.</p>
<p>It sounds like a wonderful experience for her, and we feel very comfortable with the living arrangements, cost, etc. Now, our major problem is to find the right professional clothing for her at an affordable cost. Any suggestions from CCers?</p>
<p>This is why my D never did internships. We were hard pressed to pay her tuition, R/B, etc; we couldn't possibly pay for housing somewhere else, plus,she needed to be earning her books/spending money.</p>
<p>I'm encouraging S to do one during the school year since he goes to school in NYC, but at the same time, he has a very demanding class schedule, plus just qualified for workstudy, so I"m not sure he'll be able to fit it in. LIke his sister, he works for money during the summer.</p>
<p>Garland: D had work study and got PAID internships in NYC. She worked a publisher for 18 months and now works there. Husband still fumes over the low pay she received as an intern but at least she didn't work full time as a slave for NO PAY just credit. And she got real work experience.
D scheduled her classes at NYU to have Mondays and Fridays free to work.
Memie: D went through the same thing with the clothes and now that she's working, it's time to replace those, too. I shop constantly at TJMaxx and Marshall's and the sales at Macy's, etc. Just found a cute suit at Macy's (jacket, pants, skirt) for under $90. Unlined jacket was $39. Came in beige and black. GAP t shirts in several colors on sale now.
(Also found a cocktail dress for younger Ds sorority parties --was $300, paid $74) Nordstrom anniversary sale is on now. H&M, though not great quality, is an option if you're careful. We also hit the outlet sales every chance we get.</p>
<p>ADREW--yeah, if he finds something like that, it'd be great. I've noticed that a lot of paid internships are URM or low-income based (which is fine) but I know there are some that are not, so I would love for him to find one!</p>
<p>I agree with you TheDad- though I once miss not having the opportunity to take $2,000 from Praxis, but I already realized that it's just not enough. Now, I don't miss it. The CDO told me that to even make it through the summer without loans on the top of an unpaid internship was to take a part-time job. Who can possibly have the energy after working 9-5 to take on another 4 hour shift...</p>
<p>It's really still favored to families who can afford forking over another $2,000-$3,000 for the summer, especially that many internships are in highly-inflated cities like NYC, LA, and DC. I have friends who won't do internships because of the cost though they'd love to do them.</p>
<p>It's really one of the hidden costs of going to college- set aside around $8,000 on the top of your regular tutition to pay for those summers!</p>
<p>Really, it's worth every penny, especially if you have a nice internship from a high profiled company/instutition that will open many doors to your future.</p>
<p>Oh clothes... definitely start building up the wardrobe in yout freshman year, once you stop growing... (or maybe after you've gained the 15 :))</p>
<p>My D considered both paid and unpaid internships for last summer. She ended up taking an unpaid internship in DC and yes, living costs are relatively high there. However, we saw that as part of the learning experience for her. We thought she needed to confront for herself that choices have economic consequences -- living in a place like NYC or DC as opposed to at home comes with a cost. We thought it would be a good lesson for her to experience before she made her post-graduation plans. ;)</p>
<p>Re TheDad's comment that "the internship stipend does not begin to cover the full incremental cost of the internship" -- that is true, but it is not designed to do so. Smith College's Praxis stipend is designed only to attempt to replace the summer earnings that the student would otherwise be expected to contribute. So as I see it, my kid could have lined up an unpaid intership in her home area or decided to take one elsewhere and absorb the cost of that decision. </p>
<p>We supported her decision, and agreed that the experience she gained from her specific internship was "priceless" -- but made it clear that she would be responsible for absorbing most of the economic cost. I had lots of talks with her in advance on how to experience a city without paying top dollar, and she understood that she would need to make her stipend last not only through the summer but through the next school year (as her summer earnings had always been her school year spending money). However, I admit that we did pay her housing cost upfront. Everything else (groceries, sundries, entertainment, etc.) was for her to figure out. She enjoyed free concerts in sculpture gardens, was a guest at several embassy and other dinners, and had many no-cost social and professional evening and weekend opportunities provided through her internship. </p>
<p>As for clothing, it was not an issue for her. For whatever reason, she has always tended to wear conservative clothing and had enough to get by. No shopping was necessary. Also, she had previously worked for six months in China during a leave of absence from college (saving us a full semester of college costs), and she had to dress professionally there, so that probably helped. </p>
<p>In sum, I am a big proponent of not making things too easy on these kids. The real world won't -- and I see a lot of kids in my upscale suburban area who expect to roll into their lifestyle of choice. So I prefer to have my kids hit some economic bumps before they are totally on their own. </p>
<p>I freely admit to having some baggage on this score and an agenda for my own kids -- that they not expect to have it all handed to them without some personal cost and/or hard choices.</p>
<p>I think the internship hype is overblown except for jobs on Capitol Hill. It is absolutely possible to get an entry level job after graduation in most fields without internships on the resume; there is nothing wrong with a college kid working for pay during the summers; why a family would subsidize a corporation like AOL/Time Warner by having their kid work for free in an "internship", especially if it's a financial hardship is beyond me.</p>
<p>Tell your kid to brush up on their typing and editing skills; register with a temp agency; get a summer job doing data entry or copy-editing or fact-checking or being a receptionist at a corporation..... voila, instant internship for market rate salary. And frankly.... if your kids internship involves making coffee for the big boss, have him/her work at Starbucks where at least you get health benefits....:)</p>
<p>sometimes the best way to incorporate work exp. into college career is through co-operative education. I guess that is why it can be an attractive way to go for some students.
Drexel U and Northeaster offer it; but also check through career services at schools - some individual majors may offer opportunities to work for a semester and get credit/salary.</p>
<p>Check out University of Cincinnati for paid coops,which are mandatory for many fields. Cincinnati is very good about waiving all housing costs and tuition for the period of time that students are taking the coop. In addition, they have guaranteed housing for students once they are back on campus for courses.</p>
<p>Also note that almost all of Cincinnati's coops are PAID. Cincinnati was actually the forerunner in the coop field starting this aspect of education in 1906. All the schools, such as Drexel and Northeastern, who have coops had originally taken their program based on what Cincinnati had started.</p>
<p>taxguy, I am assuming that if you qualify for financial aid, that working and earning more than 2500 (plus getting free housing) means that your financial aid will change drastically the following semester. Is this correct?</p>
<p>"Tell your kid to brush up on their typing and editing skills; register with a temp agency; get a summer job doing data entry or copy-editing or fact-checking or being a receptionist at a corporation..... voila, instant internship for market rate salary."</p>
<p>blossom: Excellent advice. Many of the unpaid internships are slave positions as a go-fer. No earth shattering corporate wisdom is revealed & the intern's unique brilliance isn't tapped. More like Devil Wears Prada type responsibilities. Just being alert, showing up, being flexible & friendly are the things these unpaid interns are asked to do. Exactly what a summer JOB will offer. Do a good job & a glowing recommendation will be yours.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, you are asking a great question to which I am uncertain as to the answer. I don't think that geting a paid coop for two quarters and not paying housing at Cincinnati affects the financial aid,but I could be in error. Either way, it is a great way to make money and not have the housing or tuition expense incurred in most schools. </p>
<p>Kids at Cincinnati earn over 25,000,000 per year in coops or was it $25,000,000 per quarter? It isn't all free since these kids do have rent somewhere else other than at the school,which is usually cheaper than dorms. The coop sponsor usually finds reasonable housing for their coops and sometimes even subsidize the housing costs!</p>
<p>I would imagine that alumnae at Smith (and similar colleges) would have closets full of "business wear" that they can no longer use because it doesn't fit or they now feel the style is too youthful or inappropriate for their current job, etc.</p>
<p>It seems like it would be a great student project to start a drive encouraging alums to send their no longer needed business wear to the college to create a source of "loaner clothes" students could borrow for summer internships. </p>
<p>It seems to me that it could be structured so that the clothing donations would be tax deductible, and that the program could be run in a way that would promote good feelings and connections between the alumnae and the current students.</p>
<p>i had a paid internship where i worked part time for a month, full time for three months during a summer and continued during school part time for two months. it was a great 6 month experience.</p>
<p>Wisteria, Smith does indeed have suits that they loan for interviews, etc. And if a place of employment has a dress code, then almost certainly some sense of fashion will be expected. Not in the sense of wearing current expensive clothing being a positive but that a wardrobe composed of pieces that were in style 15 years ago is going to make the intern look out of place when the notion is to blend in. In this sense, guys have it a bit easier.</p>
<p>But a suite for an interview is a far cry from a wardrobe designed to sustain someone for several months. My D shopped carefully, including at such places as Ann Taylor Loft, Nordstrom Rack, and picking carefully through Express. And she did start acquiring pieces on sale nearly a year ago in anticipation. But still the $$$ adds up. E.g., three new pair of shoes to go with one serviceable old pair. </p>
<p>Blossom, I agree with you to a point but think your exemption of Capitol Hill is too narrow. I can think of quite a few other situations, from investment banking to public policy institutes, where experience in a specific environment trumps general office skills.</p>
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Not in the sense of wearing current expensive clothing being a positive but that a wardrobe composed of pieces that were in style 15 years ago is going to make the intern look out of place when the notion is to blend in.
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<p>My policy has always been to avoid the fashion du jour and instead I wore well-made classic items of clothing that are always in style. As a graduate of another fine women's college, I always got the strong impression that lots of the other alumnae followed a similar policy. It just seemed like a sensible and classy thing to do.</p>
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But still the $$$ adds up. E.g., three new pair of shoes to go with one serviceable old pair.
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<p>I don't get why any professional woman needs four pairs of shoes for business wear. </p>
<p>I must say that I find this whole line of thought rather depressing. </p>
<p>A career in public service shouldn't require four pairs of business shoes for entry level interns to "fit in." </p>
<p>I had an internship decades ago. </p>
<p>I had one presentable pair of shoes and it didn't seem to bother anyone that I wore the same classic black pumps every day. (I did have a significant commute, so I wore sneakers to and from work and changed shoes when I arrived.) </p>
<p>I wore simple classic business clothes my mother had picked up at garage sales and thrift shops. (I have always hated to shop, but fortunately my mother enjoys the hunt and picked up incredible bargains. She knew the right neighborhoods to find good clothes--politicians' and diplomats' wives were always getting rid of perfectly nice clothes before moving out of the DC area. She would alter things if necessary.)</p>
<p>But you can't count on "classic" pieces being donated by alumnae in the sizes and quantities required.</p>
<p>And most of us don't live where we can rummage through politician's and diplomat's cast-offs. </p>
<p>As for the shoes, even as a fashion-impaired man, I get that you don't wear the brown shoes with the blue slacks. A set of black pumps (when the term was first introduced to me, I wondered where the excess liquid was coming from) is indeed square one. But they don't go with all outfits. </p>
<p>I, too, was an intern decades ago. And the mix-and-match of three jackets and three pair of slacks left me conspicuous even then. Of course, as a guy, I could get by with a pair of black oxfords.</p>