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Black woman teacher stands by a student's desk helping her with work

Research from California Competes finds equity gaps among students who are participating in paid internships or internships in general.

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Internships can be a powerful vehicle for work-based learning and professional development for college students, but securing a paid internship is something only a fraction of students accomplish.

A September report from the Business–Higher Education Forum found there are not enough internships available for students who want them nationally, and a new brief from California Competes found similar gaps among students at California public institutions.

Researchers discovered that only 6 percent of Californians have participated in a paid internship, and only 15 percent participated in an internship at all. Women (4 percent), Black (5 percent), Latino (4 percent) and Native American (0 percent) students were less likely than their peers to complete a paid internship, as were first-generation learners (4 percent) and college students over 30 years old (2 percent).

The brief argues employers, higher education institutions and the government should work to improve availability of paid internships and making them more equitable.

What’s the need: Previous research shows the value of paid internships on supporting students’ long-term career goals. Students who complete a paid internship tend to receive more job offers after graduation and have larger starting salaries, and they evaluate and assess their educational experiences more highly, says Su Jin Jez, chief executive officer of California Competes.

The reasons paid internships are more significant to a student’s career progression have yet to be studied, Jez says, but she hypothesizes that a financial investment from the employer in the intern improves the experience and the outcomes for the student.

Unpaid opportunities can also create barriers to participation for students who need to work to pay tuition or to support themselves, and these students are most often first-generation or low-income earners.

“Today’s student, the typical student, is working to make ends meet and doesn’t have the luxury to take an unpaid job,” Jez says. “And frankly, probably for many students, [they] don’t have the luxury to take even a paid internship, because it might mean they have to give up their regular job that’s making the ends meet for a 10-week or summer position.”

A May 2024 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed, conducted by Generation Lab, found three in 10 students identified job and internship searches as one of their top sources of stress while in college. Almost half (48 percent) of students also want more help from their institution to find internships and job possibilities to support their career development.

The research: California Competes’ brief is based on a 2022 survey of 1,171 California adults, ages 18 to 65, focusing on undergraduate internship experiences.

While some minoritized groups, such as women and those who identify as two or more races, were more likely than their peers to hold an internship, they were less likely to be paid for it.

The data mirrors equity gaps across higher education, as well as larger social or civic institutions in general, Jez says. What was more striking was that even among those students who historically benefit from higher ed, like white students, the majority still don’t have internships.

“We know how valuable [internships] are, and we hear from students that they do want to partake in internships, so that, for us, really hit home,” Jez says. “We have something, a tool, a solution that we know works, that students want, that employers want to do, but so few students are actually participating in them.”

California Competes is working on future research around why students do or do not participate in internships to better understand the barriers impeding them. More research is also needed around community college students, because quality data is lacking on their outcomes related to internship participation.

Moving forward: To better orient higher education toward work and preparing students for their careers, Jez and California Competes researchers recommend:

  • Creating shared language. Sometimes, colleges and universities have a hard time understanding the value proposition that their students bring to an employer. Community colleges, for example, often highlight the diversity of their students and how it can benefit organizations looking for diverse talent, but employers are more likely to want to address labor and talent shortages as a top priority, Jez says. Identifying shared values and how internships can fulfill both institutions’ goals is important.
  • Seeing the institution as an employer. Similar to how colleges are incubators for future researchers, higher education can create internships internally for students to explore careers and learn from working professionals.
  • Building better internships. While not the focus of the brief, offering high-quality opportunities for students to engage in their workplace and learn on the job is just as important as payment for work. Seeing interns as co-collaborators and not job shadows can boost their confidence and make the internship more meaningful. California Competes, when it hires student researchers, offers a career panel of current staff and a special handbook to interns, as some examples.
  • Considering internships earlier in the student life cycle. College leaders should introduce students to internship opportunities early, maybe even before matriculation in precollege outreach efforts, Jez says. Learners say clear career outcomes are important in enrollment, so practitioners should help students see that their institution is prepared to help them make career connections. An internship “isn’t just one shot your junior year; you can be engaging in them earlier on,” Jez adds.
  • Embedding internship exploration in class. One initiative colleges and universities could model is the Don’t Cancel That Class workshop focused on internships or professional development. Don’t Cancel That Class programs utilize support service staff to provide learning to students when a professor is sick or traveling for a conference and career center professionals could help learners with finding an internship, building résumés or mock interviews during one of these sessions.

Do you have a career prep tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.

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