<p>Considering you (generally) make money doing an internship, there would be nothing for financial aid to cover, since you're making money, not spending it. Also, it's not during the school year and you're not taking classes.</p>
<p>Hello all--I hope I've picked up all the quetions that are hanging out there. </p>
<p>The University arranges for housing for students participating in DC Initiative internships in local area college residence halls--usually American U as I understand it. I presume that if you wanted to live elsewhere you could, but housing in DC is a serious challenge and not very affordable on most college student budgets. </p>
<p>Internships are paid work experiences rather than a class, so financial aid is not an issue in this situation. </p>
<p>Have a good day!</p>
<p>Kelliebm stated that internships are not over the school year. Is that so? In DC the city is practically a political ghost town except for the tourists so there wouldn't be much significant interaction for an intern then. Can you intern during the school year also? I would be interested in participating in several internships if I could get them. If I am designing my own major can I have that intern options as well?</p>
<p>The DC Initiative internship program is in the summer only. DC is too far for an academic year internship unless you have a lot of $ to pay for commuting costs back and forth to Richmond a couple days/week and that is not for the faint of heart (although there are plenty of Richmonders who do it, and for years our office had a staff member who was commuting from DC to Richmond every day--he is now happily employed at GWU and we're happy for him). I have never heard a student come back from a summer working in DC and say that it is dead except for the tourists. There is still plenty going on and interesting work to be done, fun social stuff to do etc. </p>
<p>There are academic year internships in the Virginia General Assembly which typically mean that a student would take two traditional courses and then spend two-three days/week downtown at the Capitol. These are not necessarily going to be paid internships, although some are and if you hustle you can find the paid ones. It is a very rare political science major who does NOT work at least one GA session during his/her four years. In that case, the internship would be considered a course, and then it would be included in your financial aid package. </p>
<p>Internship options are available in every major, including those that are self-designed, and many students complete more than one internship before they graduate.</p>
<p>That's what I was getting at--what does the University provide in terms helping you set up in DC? So housing + helping you find an internship makes sense. I figured it would be over the summer because I certainly wouldn't do the Richmond-DC trek. And, yeah, I wouldn't worry about DC being a "ghost town" during the summers. I don't know where that came from.</p>
<p>Typically, Congress recesses from June to early September every year, so many of the big political players can be found on a beach somewhere. Your right though, there are probably officials at the State Department who would still welcome an intern And of course with the new Obama administration and the current economic situation, many people would be smart to stay in town.</p>