A recent op-ed published by the Los Angeles Times makes note of research conducted by UW-Madison’s Matthew Hora .
Hora is the director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT), which is housed within the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research. He also serves as an assistant professor of adult and higher education.
The LA Times op-ed talks about internships at the Capitol in Sacramento, very few of which are paid. While these internships may give students an advantage later in life, students are often unable to make ends meet in the meantime.
The author of the op-ed is Victoria Pfau, and she found herself in that position last summer, when she was offered an opportunity she felt she couldn’t turn down, even though it was unpaid. Pfau was able to minimize expenses by living with family, but she reports that other students may not have that option and face other obstacles.
Hora is an expert on this issue. In his research, he has interviewed students at five colleges and universities about why they chose not to take on internships as undergraduates; two-thirds of the students cited “cost barriers related to tuition and living expenses.”
Another study cited by Pfau found that only 17 percent of college students have a job offer at graduation, but among those with internship experience, 51.7 percent graduate into work. Additionally, most students who are able to take on unpaid internships already have a leg up — students coming from families whose household income is over $120,000 and white students are more likely to participate in internships.
While there have been some advances in internship payment, in government offices in particular, Pfau reports that there’s still a long way to go.
Pfau is a junior at UCLA who chairs the Student Advisory Committee for the Pay Our Interns California Action Fund. Read Pfau’s op-ed, headlined “Sacramento’s army of interns deserves to be paid,” here.