Internship season is upon us, as thousands of undergraduates scramble for the
summer rite of passage that has become virtually necessary to secure jobs after
graduation.

This is the second year I’ve spent countless hours ensuring a summer position to fill
the space that would otherwise be empty on my resume. The process of applying, on
top of a full course load and the stresses that entails, was grueling, to say the least.

But securing my internship was only step one of securing my summer plans. My
parents warned me when I declared my humanities major of the sparse income I
would undoubtedly have for a large portion of my life, but I never thought that it
would mean I wouldn’t get a salary at all.

Out of the four internships I have had, not one has been paid. This is perhaps
a symptom of the nonprofit status of the organizations that offered them, but
the trend of unpaid apprenticeships has been growing, especially after the 2008
financial crisis. Companies, especially those whose budgets rely on donations or
subscriptions, have had little flexibility to provide entry-level jobs, positions that are
often easily filled with willing and eager unpaid volunteers like myself.

I have accepted that in order to make connections and further my career, I have to
take unpaid positions and absorb the cost. However, I’m lucky that my parents fund
a great deal of these endeavors, funding without which I would be forced to take up
paying jobs that are less substantive on my resume.

The New York Times reports that in February of this year, a Harper’s Bazaar intern filed suit against the fashion
magazine’s parent company, Hearst Corporation, for failing to provide her a salary
despite the recent graduate’s 55-hour weeks and “professional” duties. Her case
against Hearst essentially amounts to accusations of wage theft.

I find myself in a similarly difficult position, though the internships I’ve had have
all been excellent experiences with a great amount of hands-on learning. While I
haven’t had grueling workweeks, the dilemma of paying my rent with no paycheck
has yet to be solved.

But again, I am blessed with the family I happened to be born into. For those
without financial backing, unpaid internships simply aren’t an option. And in this
increasingly competitive job market, where Puget Sound Business Journal reports 8.9 percent of college grads are unemployed and
thousands more are graduating into the same pool, having a lackluster resume isn’t
much of an option either.

I don’t find a fault with the legality of unpaid internships. I have treated my past
internships as classes, the same way I pay roughly $2,000 to take a course at this
university. I had agreed to work without pay, and if I didn’t agree with the contract
each internship put forth, I could have always refused it.

But foregoing these internships could potentially mean foregoing a more lucrative
job once I graduate. The notion that undergrads, who Sallie Mae reports carry on average $3,173
dollars in credit card debt, mostly accrued as a result of their tuition, would have
the option to work without pay automatically limits unpaid internships to those of
upper classes.

For the students whose families are unwilling or unable to support them financially,
the value of an investment in an unpaid internship may not compare to the value
of a paid job. In most fields, especially in the humanities and the arts, a resume
and one’s experience are virtually mandatory to secure a job after graduation. The
current job market, coupled with widespread use of unpaid interns, has structurally
left those in middle and lower classes without an entry into certain fields.

As I transition out of the comfort of my parents’ checkbook, the harsh reality of
working a nine-to-five with nothing in the bank is quickly encroaching. Although my
internships may not be lucrative, I’m left only with the hope that they will pay off, in
more ways than one, once I have graduated. For those without the luxury of working
without pay, that hope is harder to grasp.

Meher Ahmad ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in international studies and Middle Eastern studies.