Wednesday, November 21, 2018 // The Statement 
 
7B

complaints have been filed rather 
than proactively investigating them.
That said, employment in some 
fields is so competitive that unpaid 
internships are increasingly neces-
sary, particularly in journalism and 
public policy. Between 2016 and 2026, 
journalism is projected to have a 2 
percent decline in job opportunities. 
On campus, University of Michigan 
offices such as the University Career 
Center and the Opportunity Hub 
attempt to facilitate ways for students 
to take advantage of unpaid intern-
ships with a vast array of program-
ming. Joelle Fundaro Randall, an 
assistant director at the Career Cen-
ter, said that though students may 
be insistent about getting unpaid 
internships, there are other oppor-
tunities that offer the same rewards.
“If I am connecting with a student 
and they are really focused on the 
internship, I say let’s pause for a sec-
ond, there are other ways of getting 

these opportunities to help you develop 
your skills outside of a formal intern-
ship,” Randall said. “Sometimes there 
is research on campus, student groups 
that do a lot of different things and 
are part of a community. Those skills 
are transferable into the workplace.”
Outside of coaching, the Career 
Center offers resources for students 
to find paid internships or to acquire 
the means to be able to financially 
accept an unpaid position. For exam-
ple, the Public Service Intern Pro-
gram coaches students on how to 
attain opportunities in Washington 
D.C. Alongside PSIP, they also offer 
the 
Applebaum 
Internship 
which 
allows students to find opportunities 
in Detroit, and the Samo Alajbegović 

Fellowship for students working in 
the countries on the Adriatic Sea.
The Career Center also invites every 
student who is registered through the 
Office of the Registrar, including mas-
ter’s degree and Ph.D. students, to their 
online employment database, Hand-
shake. Fundaro Randall expressed 
that the Career Center has about 
3,700 paid internships in their system.
“I think the biggest piece is students 
not knowing where to look for intern-
ships, so when we coach students, if they 
mention that they are low SES (socio-
economic status) or any of those piec-
es, we coach them on how to find these 
opportunities,” Fundaro Randall said. 
The Hub partners with LSA Scholar-
ships to help students on a need-based 
basis and they also, like the Career 
Center, have drop-in coaching hours 
in which students have conversations 
with coaches that have resources like 
scholarships, stipends and knowl-
edge of other opportunities at hand.

Yet, as the testimonies of University 
students Zach Tingley, Monica Kim 
and Lydia Murray show, sometimes 
students’ interests are in fields where 
very few paid internships are offered, 
and the assistance of a scholarship from 
the University isn’t always sufficient. 
According to CNBC, an unpaid 
internship could cost up to $12,986 
and 
students 
with 
insufficient 
funds might be forced to obtain 
a second job or go into debt to be 
able to afford these opportunities. 
On the other hand, LSA junior Tay-
lor Lind talks positively about her 
experience with an unpaid internship 
and the LSA Internship Scholarship. 
“It was the summer after my fresh-
man year I didn’t really know what 

I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to 
work 
in 
environmental 
advocacy 
and I didn’t know how,” Lind said. 
“I thought that working for govern-
ment might be a good option, so I 
reached out to my local city govern-
ment. I wanted to see if they had any 
opportunities but I didn’t see anything 
posted so I had to cold contact and I 
did it with the help of the Hub since 
I was an employee there at the time.” 
When she was finally hired by 
her local government for the intern-
ship position and they told her it 
would be an unpaid opportunity, she 
decided to apply for the LSA Intern-
ship Scholarship and was granted 
$1,500 to cover her expenses while 
working for her local government 
in California and living at home. 
“Although I am not necessarily going 
into government, I learned so much 
about how the environmental efforts 
can be integrated and the barriers that 
they face,” Lind said. “I really value the 
knowledge that I gained from it and 
… The fact that it was unpaid (didn’t 
take away from the experience).”
However, a common theme of con-
fusion and misinformation came out 
while talking to representatives of both 
the Career Center and the LSA Oppor-
tunity Hub. Lind expressed that she 
had contacts in LSA Scholarships while 
she was applying and suggested that, 
though she isn’t sure, other students 
that don’t have that may have some 
confusion in the application process.
There are differing opinions regard-
ing unpaid internships. Some com-
panies view them as necessary to 
their vitality as organizations, but 
some others, such as Conde Nast, are 
known to use their interns as unskilled 
and free labor while giving them 
almost no recognition for their work 
or lasting skills or connections after 
their short internship experiences.
Despite the disagreement on wheth-
er opportunities should be paid or 
unpaid, a 2012 study shows that 55 per-
cent of students had a form of internship 
or co-op experience during their years 
in school. These rates more than dou-
ble the numbers a similar study found 
two decades ago, according to Pro-
Publica. As internships become more 
and more important tools for students 
who are trying to break into industries, 
some may be forced to go to extreme 
measures to get these opportunities.

Yet, as the testimonies of University students 

Zach Tingley, Monica Kim and Lydia Murray 

show, sometimes students’ interests are in 

fields where very few paid internships are 

offered, and the assistance of a scholarship 

