Theodore L. Caputi | No pay, no gain

The Quixotic Quaker | Equity champions like Penn can end the unpaid internship

By Theodore L. Caputi 09/01/15 9:59pm

Ivy League colleges have a reputation for catering to the cashmere-clad upper class. But in recent decades, Penn has eschewed elitism and minimized the advantages of financial privilege so well that I sometimes forget I share a campus with some fabulously wealthy classmates. This is not by accident. Since arriving at the University in 2004, President Gutmann has made equity a priority and increased financial aid by 160 percent. Under Gutmann, Penn became the largest school (by student population) to boast a no-loan — now “all-grant” — financial aid policy and launched countless initiatives to level the economic playing field. With all this good work, it’s time for Penn to address one remaining bastion of inequity: the unpaid (or underpaid) internship.

The problem with unpaid internships is their exclusivity. I had time to think about this while interning at a firm in NYC. My position was modestly paid, and living in Manhattan was ... well ... as expensive as living in Manhattan. The work experience was tremendously valuable, but the costs associated with Big Apple living were greater than my salary — and my family had to make up the difference. I couldn’t help but wonder about less advantaged students who couldn’t “afford” intern work.

Prestigious but unpaid internships help students strengthen their career prospects — but unpaid work isn’t feasible for poor students. A career-buoying unpaid internship in Washington, D.C., can cost upwards of $6,000. When the opportunity costs of not earning $3,500 by working at a McDonald’s are taken into account, it is easy to see why, when it comes to unpaid internships, some students lose out. Because internship experience is often used to determine which candidate will “get the job,” it seems likely the ripple effect of such inequity persists beyond the undergraduate years.

I spoke with some local students: Yannik, a Philadelphia native and student at the esteemed Rhode Island School of Design, stated, “As a sculpture major, it’s necessary to have some kind of internship ... but I’m not in the financial position to have one that is unpaid.” Yannik might have to settle for paid work that is “art related” rather than accept an unpaid internship that’s a better match for his career.

Jessica, a recent alum of the Community College of Philadelphia, told me about her work experience: “I really wanted to apply for this internship in Oklahoma, but when I learned [the internship was unpaid], I knew I ... wouldn’t have the money. You pay for the privilege of working.”

Unfortunately, unpaid internships are often perceived as a win-win situation. The benefit to employers is obvious: free labor. And for wealthier students, internships are more plentiful when students work for free. Lower-income students, however, are left completely out of the equation.

Because unpaid internships benefit both corporations and wealthier students, they are unlikely to be eliminated through legal means. In fact, the legal climate for eliminating unpaid internships is getting worse: The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently got rid of several legal restrictions for unpaid internships. The most significant remaining regulation is that unpaid internships must benefit the intern more so than the employer — a statute so vague it is essentially unenforceable.

Universities however, can change things, and some have already stepped up. New York University agreed to vet the legal compliance of unpaid internships before posting them on its careers website in 2014. Quickly after Columbia University stopped offering academic credit for unpaid internships.

Unpaid internships have not become much of an issue on campus. Perhaps this is because, for us lucky Quakers, Penn subsidizes many unpaid or underpaid internships through programs such as the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, the Civic House Public Interest Internship Fund and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. But just because many Penn students aren’t negatively affected by the existence of unpaid internships doesn’t mean the University should be complicit in this unfair practice. As a nationally-recognized academic powerhouse, Penn should consider the plight of students at less generous schools and discourage the existence of unpaid internships altogether.

To this end, Penn should require that companies seeking unpaid interns clearly demonstrate a net benefit to students. Exploitative internship offers should be removed from the PennLink website. This way, if employers want access to Penn talent, they will need to make their internships fairer. The unpaid internship is a formidable opponent in the world of inequity and a challenge worthy of an equity champion like Penn.

THEODORE L. CAPUTI  is a College and Wharton junior from Washington Crossing, Pa., studying finance/statistics and mathematics. His email address is tcaputi@wharton.upenn.edu. “The Quixotic Quaker” appears every other Wednesday.

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