diana pressey

For a long time, many members of Congress didn’t pay their interns. It wasn’t until recently, when backlash grew too strong to ignore, that members began pledging to provide student workers with some of the money they need to survive.

It’s in large part thanks to the tireless work of nonprofit organization Pay Our Interns that the U.S. House and Senate have passed a collective $12.8 million in internship funding for the 2019 budget. Unfortunately, this dedication to paying student workers fairly is not always reflected in other career fields.

The current cost of college in this country is astronomical across the board. Working one’s way through college and paying independently for it is more difficult now than ever before, if not impossible for most students.

I’m extremely privileged to attend UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism, one of the best and highest-value professional schools in the country, with blessedly low in-state tuition. I fought to get here via transfer from a tiny school in Utah, but I was also handed the opportunity by my parents moving to the state.

Most students don’t have that luxury. A lot of us are either working ridiculously hard to afford cost of living and unreasonably high tuition, are going into severe debt, or all of the above. Several of us are having breakdowns every other week. 1 in 5 college students are so stressed out, they think about committing suicide. (While this statistic might be discomfiting or depressing, I argue that it’s crucial to talk about the mental health struggles many people are facing.)

It’s no wonder they’re stressed. In addition to around 25-50 hours a week—depending on course difficulty and work ethic—spent in class and studying, the majority of U.S. students work and pay their own tuition. That some of us find any time at all to sleep or take care of ourselves is honestly a miracle. If anyone asks whether I do, I plead the fifth.

And yet, there are still companies that ask for free labor or underpay student workers.

This practice reminds me of banks charging customers overdraft fees. Demanding that those who don’t have any money pay extra seems nonsensical and borderline malevolent. So does requesting that college students, many of whom actively pay for education and living expenses, work for free.

Unpaid internships transform the early stages of career building into an exclusive, elitist process. Only those whose parents are paying their tuition and living costs can afford to take on unpaid opportunities.

It’s not as if students who want to be employed after college can afford to avoid internships. The facts are that a wide majority of employers want job candidates with work experience. They just don’t necessarily want to be the ones to provide it. That’s why internships exist: to fill that gap.

Companies who want free labor take advantage of this. While I believe there are some who simply can’t afford the potential risk of paying such inexperienced individuals, I somehow doubt that these are in the majority. As for that risk, a thorough screening process mitigates it. I have typically gone through two to three interviews for each internship position I’ve gotten.

I’ve never worked for free, aside from volunteering and extracurricular activities. I refuse to on principle. My work and time is valuable, no matter how limited my experience. The amount of years I’ve worked does not define my work’s worth—my skills and capabilities do. After all, my skills and capabilities are what have gotten me through those years. And while there are a few I have built on the job, my ability to learn while doing has helped me excel.

Everyone should be paid for their work. There’s a reason it’s called the minimum wage; it’s what workers should be paid at minimum. Anything less is fundamentally elitist exploitation.

Unpaid internships are, for the most part, unjust. It’s as simple as that.

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