For sophomore biology major Stephen Acheampong, finding a summer internship that pays and provides quality experience has been a struggle.

“I’ve been looking for a good internship this summer,” he said. “Unfortunately, it seems that most do not provide any monetary compensation, and those that do require school credit.”

Acheampong’s dilemma is one that resonates with many students. In a competitive job market, students and recent college graduates seek internships as a way to obtain real-world experience. But with unpaid internships becoming more commonplace, SU is taking steps to alleviate financial obstacles for students.

A proposal drafted by the University Senate’s Committee on Instruction seeks to cut down the costs of tuition for internship credit. The Senate is the academic governing body of SU, and is made up of faculty, students, staff and administration members.

The proposal is now awaiting final approval. Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost, said those in his office are looking to implement this policy by summer 2014.

“We’ve identified that we want to do this,” he said.

Spina said the proposal will not entirely remove costs for students.

“Students need to make proper judgment and decide whether some of these internships would absolutely advance their careers,” he said.

The proposal would require students to pay 10 percent of the standard credit cost, said Steven Diaz, associate mathematics professor and chair of the Committee on Instruction. This reduced rate would be limited to one credit per summer and would only apply when the internship is required for the student’s degree program.

A credit at SU goes for about $1,000.

The proposal was sent to Spina on Oct. 31, 2011, after nearly a year of research by the committee, Diaz said. After much delay, the process is moving along nicely, he said.

“The irony of cutting tuition costs is that SU could actually make money,” Diaz said.

Many students avoid paying the high tuition at SU by taking the credits through local community colleges and transferring the credits back to SU, Diaz said. With the discounted rate, they may instead take the credits through SU.

An unpaid internship in locations such as New York City is a tremendous cost burden for students because of the many other extraneous personal expenses, said Steve Davis, chair of the newspaper and online journalism department and member of the Senate committee.

“I think it’s important for people to be paid for their work,” Davis said.  “Oftentimes it’s not so much what the figure is, but that a student is recognized for doing professional work.”

Not paying interns “sends a terrible signal,” Davis said. In addition to the university helping to reduce the cost of tuition, he said it is also important to express to employers how the practice of not paying interns is wrong.

This is especially important because internships are important to students’ education, he said.

“Internships are essential, whether they are required or not,” he said. “We can’t tell employers what to do, but we can cut the cost of the school credit to merely nothing.”

Published on March 27, 2013 at 11:47 pm

Contact Levi: ldstei01@syr.edu