People Watching: Internships are a sign of privilege

I believe that most of us here at Boston University don’t realize the extent of our privilege. 

We attend a world-renowned institution, receive instruction from fielded experts, carry thousands of dollars worth of technology on our backs and have the option to eat three healthy meals each day. When we’re not at school, many of us drive cars, go to dinner with our families welcoming us home and sleep comfortably in air-conditioned and heated homes.

These are all important indicators, but I noticed recently that one of the most prominent signs of privilege is an exploitation of our time, money, labor and most of all, internships.

With highly sought after and competed-for in institutions such as ours, one may overlook the immense privilege that is a prerequisite for any internship. Think about it: the majority of positions are unpaid, require hours of a full-time employee and involve a temporary relocation. Who are the kinds of people that can afford this kind of work?

Obviously, an unpaid intern must be in no significant need to earn a stable paycheck. Even with some sort of attached stipend, money must be coming from somewhere else to fund one’s life and the income void that is inherent with taking an internship over a paid job. 

Student summer interns come to mind here. Not working for pay — at least, significant pay — during the summer means that students must fall back on their parents or other sources to fund their life during that time and the semester. 

For households that cannot afford to do this, an internship would be a waste of time despite its possible benefits down the road, although in an uncertain job market.

The hours limit money-making opportunities further. A classic full-time summer internship (my mind travels to Capitol Hill summer interns like my older brother this past summer) entail full, tiring days. This leaves only weekends for other employment opportunities. 

However, the labor market seriously discriminates against applicants who can only work two days out of the week. If this weekend employment can be attained, the hours will naturally be low and the meager pay might not sustain its earner for long. This part-time employment also makes for seven-day work weeks, which many off-semester students are likely to scorn.

Clearly, an intern is most likely someone who comes from a household where free-rider problems are not an issue; this means that interns usually belong to households with higher incomes and lower levels of an “every man for himself” mentality. 

To put this more concretely, the cost of living during a typical out-of-area summer internship is around $6,200. This figure is reflective of the concentration of serious internships in larger, coastal cities. 

If one’s work is unpaid, including the stipend system, someone else is usually footing the bill. Working for no pay in this instance seems to require a decent amount of disposable income. If a household doesn’t have this kind of expendable cash, its members may not have the same opportunities as their opposites.

Those of lower economic status who cannot afford to work for the oftentimes non-existent salary have more than ever before been placed at a disadvantage in the job market. According to a 2017 National Association of Colleges and Employers study, students who completed multiple internships had significantly increased employment and graduate school prospects six months after graduation compared to those who held none.

Success post-graduation is increasingly hinging on the ability to take an internship. However, it is obvious, by the position’s very nature, that those of higher economic status are the ones that can most easily afford it. This trend may perhaps exacerbate growing socio-economic inequality and its associated problems. So what can be done about it?

First, I’m not asking anyone to apologize for their privilege to the extent that it is not used for evil. Internships provide extremely valuable experiences in which one can gain firsthand knowledge of a field of interest or importance. I believe that if one has the means to obtain these positions, then one certainly should.

Nonetheless, an expansion of access to internships can be achieved via school-subsidization and private-subsidization coupled with efforts on employers’ ends to understand one’s economic background when reviewing applications and prior work experience. While these steps may come with a longer timeline, we can work to grow an awareness of this issue that has been affecting students for a while.