Many college students looking for summer internships will settle for unpaid positions because even though they need money, they need career-related experience more. But what those students don’t realize is that in many cases, not paying interns is actually illegal.

Six different conditions must be met for an unpaid internship to be legal, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. One condition is that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities, and the training must benefit the intern. Interns also are not allowed to replace regular employees. Unpaid internships are supposed to be similar to academic learning experiences or vocational training, not actual jobs.

But how often are these guidelines followed? Most unpaid internships I’ve heard of were designed so the employer could benefit in some way from the intern’s work. Whether interns help the company by making coffee, writing press releases or crunching numbers, the employer benefits. College students are being taken advantage of by employers, and this needs to change.

For-profit companies should pay interns

College students are intelligent and deserve to be treated as valuable members of the work force. College-age interns bring unique skills to the table: they’re technologically savvy, have fresh perspectives on the world and are creative. If students contribute their talents to help employers, they should be compensated just like any other worker.

Refusing to pay interns is wrong and often illegal. It’s understandable in the cases of non-profit companies or small businesses that struggle to make ends meet. Those employers usually compensate for not paying interns by providing actual educational experiences for interns or offering other perks, said Jennifer Rogers, Career Development Center employer relations specialist.

“Those organizations that legitimately have a hard time paying interns might let interns take training seminars for free or pay for interns to go to educational conferences,” Rogers said.

But she added that if for-profit companies have the ability to pay interns, they should.

“I would hope they’d examine their financial situation, and if they’re asking students to do responsible professional work, those students should be compensated for that work,” she said. “You’d hope they’d have some integrity and some conscience.”

Economic situation fuels problem

Employers are especially reluctant to spend money on college interns in an economic downturn. Instead, many for-profit companies opt for the unpaid route. Right now, 58 percent of the internships listed on the Career Development Center Web site are unpaid.

“This increase in unpaid internships started in the summer of 2009,” Rogers said. “When we were at the worst point, the unpaid internships were close to 70 percent of the total internships offered.”

Unpaid internships can also increase the disparity between college students who are financially well-off and those who are struggling. Students with more money or wealthier families can afford to work at an internship for an entire summer without being paid. They can then put that internship on their resume, which will make them more attractive candidates for jobs.

Students who have fewer financial resources often can’t afford to work for an entire summer or semester without pay. So they end up taking minimum-wage jobs outside their chosen career field just to make enough money to keep going to school, which puts them at a disadvantage in the job market.

Some employers try to alleviate this problem by offering part-time unpaid internships so students can still work at other jobs and earn money. But that’s just a partial solution. Employers need to recognize that college students are not expendable sources of free labor. Interns contribute a lot to the companies they work at and employers should show their gratitude by fairly compensating them.

I’m not suggesting that employers offer interns extravagant paychecks. Even minimum wage would be better than nothing. And it’s great that employers are offering these experiences to college students, because in today’s world getting an internship is a necessary first step to finding a job. But employers should make sure they aren’t taking advantage of the students they are supposedly trying to help.

The U.S. Department of Labor is cracking down on employers who offer illegal unpaid internships, according to a recent New York Times article. Maybe this will serve as a wake-up call for employers to start recognizing interns’ hard work instead of exploiting them.

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu.