The unpaid internship system is unfair

The unpaid internship is a staple of the stereotypical college experience. Whether you’re sent on Starbucks runs, sending emails, or you’re lucky enough to be given real assignments internship experience is an important step in getting a real, paying job upon graduation. Most unpaid internships offer college course credit as compensation for undergraduate work.

But what happens if you can’t afford to work for no pay all summer?

For many students, accepting a job that will not pay them is simply not an option. Taking an unpaid internship does not only mean working for no pay. The experience often requires the student to provide their own transportation, food, and housing. Unpaid internships actively cost a student.

Therefore, while in theory unpaid internships are available to anyone who is qualified, they are really only offered to those that can afford to take the job. Thus, students from low-income families are being punished for a situation over which they have little control.

Even accepting an internship for course credit is expensive. At Tufts, to receive course credit for an unpaid internship over the summer you must pay to be enrolled in summer school, even though participating in an internship off-campus does not require payment of any Tufts professors, or the use of any Tufts facilities. Receiving academic credit for an internship during the regular, academic year is included in tuition costs, but students with other commitments — such as work-study, varsity athletics, etc. — cannot always make the time in their schedules.

Admittedly, many small businesses cannot afford to pay their interns, and the law does not require them to do so. In this sense, it is not the fault of the small businesses in question that this is the way the internship system is set up. Nonetheless, this sets a social precedent: students need not be paid for their work. Often, college graduates are paid thousands of dollars a year for doing similar, if not the same, work as an unpaid intern might be asked to do.

Despite what American myth preaches, social mobility in our society is often difficult. Studies have shown that in most cases, we are likely to remain in the social class into which we were born. There are many things that contribute to this phenomenon, and the unpaid internship system is certainly one of them.

Therefore, all internships should be legally required to be paid. At the very least, all businesses should be required to cover the costs of living, food and transportation for their interns for the duration of the summer so that interns do not lose money while working. At best, all internships would include an hourly minimum wage.