As the economy continues to struggle, especially in the field of journalism, unpaid internships are the latest institution to receive government aid.
According to Pro Publica, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University has begun to revise its approach when placing students in news outlets around the country as part of its graduate school requirements.
Students were given a "relocation stipend" of approximately $600 - $1200 for a several month-long internship. In combination with tuition costs of approximately $15,000 per year, some students weren't able to relocate to the destination they desired because of financial constraints, Pro Pro Publica reported.
Though not in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was revised this summer to include six requirements for an unpaid internship (essentially making the majority of such internships illegal), Northwestern has asked employers if they would at least be willing to pay students minimum wage.
"As always, Medill and the University are careful to make sure that the program is an academic experience that meets U.S. Department of Labor regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act," program coordinator Desiree Hanford wrote in an email to media outlets. "With this backdrop, Medill would like to know whether you would be willing to pay a student who is doing a residency at your site and, if so, how much you would be willing to pay? Would you be willing to pay your state's minimum wage?"
In addition to more appropriately rewarding its students, Northwestern may be influenced by several legal cases over the past few years that have ruled in favor of interns (employers, however, have won most such cases with many still ongoing, according to Pro Publica), including several associated with academic credit.
One such case involved Rome Snowboards Corp. Though interns received academic credit, federal investigators still reported labor code violations. The problem with Rome Snowboards Corp, according to the Labor Department, was that it was a for-profit establishment.
According to Pro Publica, labor officials concluded that "for-profit firms almost always have to be paid."
Rome Snowboards co-founder Josh Reid didn't necessarily agree with the justice of the ruling. In a conversation with investigators, Pro Publica reports he expressed his dissatisfaction "with the interns' colleges, whom he believed were complicit in the firm's noncompliance involving the interns."
As part of the ruling, interns received compensation of up to $1,000 in the mail.
"Of course I'd love to be compensated for the work, but as a college student - from all of our perspectives - that wasn't a norm," former intern Tom Wolfe said. "There weren't many students who expected to be paid and get credit.
