Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Summer)

Alex Wiebel, Allen, Texas junior, thinks he may be putting his future on the line by not accepting an unpaid television internship this fall at KSNT in Topeka. Being an out of state student, the price to receive credit from the University of Kansas for an internship is just too expensive to justify.

For many students like Wiebel, internships are not worth the money anymore, however, after being alerted to the situation Lindy Eakin, vice provost for administration and finance said his office is willing to look at financial solutions for students.

“I think if the model is changing, then we have to look at a financial structure that makes sense,” Eakin
said.

Eakin said one possibility is for out-of-state students to pay in-state tuition for internships. This would save an out-of-state student almost $300 per credit hour of internship.

According to The New York Times, some universities across the country are trying to provide financial support for internships. Although Eakin said it is a good idea, he said it must be done through the individual schools.

“Professional schools are perhaps in a better position than say the college,” Eakin said. “It is the school’s responsibility to raise as much money as possible through fundraising and corporate sponsors to help students pay for internships.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, charging students per credit hour is nothing new for universities across the country. As in the case of Wiebel, the steep price to work for free is a strong deterrent from taking on an unpaid internship.

“I just don’t think it is fair for me to pay the same amount of money for an internship off campus as an English class at KU,” Wiebel said.

Source: New York Times

According to a recent New York Times article, half of all internships are unpaid. Patty Noland, career development coordinator for the School of Journalism, said paid internships are the way to go, but in journalism, getting one is easier said than done.

“The broadcast industry doesn’t pay their interns,” Noland said. “Not only do they not pay, but they require proof you are getting credit.”

Noland said that getting credit for internships is being fueled by two things: student reliability and legal liability. Labor laws are forcing many companies to either pay their interns or, in most cases, require them to receive academic credit. In order to receive credit students pay regular credit per hour rates, which Noland said is fair.

The School of Business offers credit for unpaid internships also, however, Jennifer Jordan, director of the business career center said it is unlikely for students to ever need to.

“Based on the internships reported to the school, 87.5 percent of our students receive compensation for interning,” Jordan said.

Source: University of Kansas Registrar

According the University of Kansas’s web site, an in-state undergraduate student pays $160.80 per credit hour for internships. For an out of state student, such as Wiebel, internship credit costs $442.55 per credit. For a normal two-hour television internship, which in the journalism school means 80 hours of work at an internship, Wiebel would have to pay $885.10 plus gas mileage to and from work. Students can only receive two hours of credit from the university, which makes any work over 80 hours only volunteer work.

Eakin said that paying for internships has not been a big issue.

“No one has made an issue of it,” Eakin said. “If you go back 20 years, most of the internships were paid and in the summer, so it wasn’t really an issue.”

Noland, Eakin, and Jordan all said that internships are too important to a student’s future for economic standing to discourage them from taking one.

“Internships are extremely important,” Jordan said. “They are the number one thing that employers look for when students graduate.”

Noland said that internships are a way for students to strengthen their resume, and more importantly, figure out if they really want a job like their internship.

“If they get there and figure out this isn’t what I want to do, that’s ok,” Noland said. “Now, let me go figure out what I really want to do.”

Jordan said that even though the price of an internship may seem high, students must remember that the university still has expenses when students take internships for credit.

“It requires a process,” Jordan said. “We have to hire someone to oversee the internships, grade the papers, and manage the paperwork.”

According to the New York Times, students hoping to do internships are on the rise. The 62 percent of students hoping to do an internship this summer, increased from 41 percent last summer.

As for Wiebel, he is holding out for a job in the broadcast business. He only hopes that his experience at KU’s television station is enough for someone to take a chance on him.