Internship Issues

The Value of an Internship

A college or university internship, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level, is typically a capstone experience. Students generally report loving their internship as the first real opportunity to apply their hard-won new knowledge and skills. Graduates similarly often report that their internship was the key to their job and career success. Internships are increasingly a critical part of a valuable program in higher education. The University of North Carolina, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Los Angeles, for example, each offer undergraduate and graduate students dozens of rewarding internships across major fields of study. The U.S. Department of Education publishes a blog on higher education internships, indicating that their benefits include real work experience, networking opportunities, and a chance to build your resume for future education or employment. You have every right to pursue a rewarding internship within your academic program, not just to confirm and expand your knowledge and skills but also to open doors to post-graduate employment.

The Necessity of an Internship

Internships, though, aren't just a reward and capstone experience. In many academic programs, completing an internship is a necessity for graduation. To maintain high placement rates and thereby attract students, colleges and universities must reassure employers that their graduates have the required knowledge and skills to be successful in the workplace. Internships go a long way toward meeting that requirement. The University of Michigan's School of Public Health, for example, requires an Applied Practice Experience (APEX), satisfied by an internship. Similarly, undergraduate business majors at the University of Florida must complete an internship, generally in their senior year. Increasingly, academic programs at all levels and in many fields require students to complete an internship or equivalent experience applying their knowledge and skills in a clinical, real-life setting. Higher education is no longer all about the classroom. Academic success today can be just as much about proving yourself capable at work on the job.

Internship Challenges and Obstacles

Unfortunately, not every internship is a bed of roses. Indeed, a poorly designed or supported internship, one for which the school has not prepared the student, or one in which the student faces other challenges, can cripple a student's academic progress, delaying or even preventing graduation. Academic internships generally apply academic and performance standards that a student must meet to get academic credit for the experience. Watch out for internship issues. They can at first appear harmless but snowball into severe obstacles to your graduation. The U.S. Department of Education's blog on higher education internships indicates that students pursuing an internship often receive no pay or very low pay, incur unreasonable internship expenses, face stiff competition for the best internships, and find their internships interrupted by the pandemic, economy, or other outside disruptions. Students can suffer internship failures, dismissals, or incompletes for a variety of other reasons, including:

poor or absent internship site supervision;
inadequate internship resources and accommodations;
unreasonable internship customer, client, or patient demands;
other employer mistreatment;
poor or absent academic supervision and support from the school;
unreasonable scheduling demands;
excessive tardiness or absences due to illness, injury, or other cause;
incomplete or substandard internship work assignments;
alleged unprofessional conduct;
poor relationships with internship colleagues and subordinates; and
lack of hours and work to fulfill internship requirements.

National Education Attorney Advisor Representation

If you face one or more of these internship issues threatening your academic progress or standing and impeding your ability to graduate, retain national education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team for your skilled and experienced representation. Education law requires special knowledge, experience, sensitivity, and expertise. Get the help you need to resolve your internships favorably. Don't let an internship challenge spoil your academic record and delay or prevent your graduation.

Internship Accreditation Standards

Higher education is among the most regulated fields. Those rules and regulations extend to internships. Associations and organizations like the Accreditation Council for Co-Op and Internship publish internship accreditation standards that their member colleges and universities must meet when selecting internship sites and supervising internship programs. These accreditation standards can help you ensure that your school provides you with a fitting internship. The Accreditation Council, for instance, accredits internship programs at North Carolina State University, the University of Central Florida, Mississippi State University, and other colleges and universities under five accreditation standards. Those standards require the college or university to provide each of the following for a student internship:

mission and goals defining the internship's purpose within the school program, how the school developed the mission and goals, how the school will achieve the mission and goals, and how the school will evaluate the internship to ensure effectiveness;
proof of how the school has integrated the internship mission and goals into the academic program while building strong institutional relationships to ensure internship program quality;
proof that the school has effectively selected, prepared, engaged, and monitored employers for students to achieve learning outcomes consistent with program goals;
an environment at employer locations enabling students to achieve learning outcomes, including a student learning and development approach guiding preparation, reflection, and monitoring activities; and
effective use of a student learning assessment process for each work term, enabling the school to evaluate overall internship effectiveness and internship impact on constituents.

Internship Responsibilities

Internships can vary from school to school and program to program but generally have a structure enabling them to meet internship accreditation standards like those immediately above. That structure generally requires certain things from both you and your school. You don't just go out, get a study-related job, and call it an internship. Instead, your school likely required or will require several steps relating to your internship. While you should generally expect to hold up your end of the internship bargain, you should be able to require the school to do likewise on its end of the bargain. Internship responsibilities, yours and the school's, generally include:

that you enroll for the internship credits you are pursuing before you begin the internship;
that your school approved the internship site at which you will work before your enrollment;
that your school assigned a professor, instructor, advisor, or other academic employee of the school to oversee your internship remotely from the school;
that your school has identified a qualified professional at your internship site as your field supervisor;
that your field supervisor will periodically review and evaluate your work at the site on a form your school provided;
that your academic supervisor, field supervisor, or school will periodically share with you the field supervisor's evaluations;
that your school and site agree on the number of hours you must work at the site to complete the internship;
that you keep and submit a record of the hours you worked at the internship site, meeting the specified number of hours to complete the internship;
that the site provides you with enough hours to enable you to complete your internship within the expected term; and
that you complete the work to the site's and school's reasonable performance standards.

Internship Requirements

While both you and your school have certain responsibilities relating to your internship, your school will likely publish for you a list of your specific conditions for receiving academic credit for your internship. Follow those conditions closely, as much as you can. Failing to meet one or more of the conditions may bar you from academic credit, even if you put in the time and effort and even if you otherwise meet the internship's performance standards. Your school should make its internship requirements clear to you. As much as you can, you should read, understand, and meet those requirements before and during your internship. Look for a clear internship timeline, like the one that the University of South Florida offers. If you need and expect academic credit, avoid launching into an attractive experience before you have qualified it as an internship. Undergraduate communications majors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for instance, must satisfy a lengthy list of internship rules and requirements to receive academic credit for their internship. Those steps, representative of other internship programs, include:

complete a certain number of credits within the major before enrolling for the internship;
complete, submit, and gain approval of your internship application before beginning the work;
maintain a minimum grade point average, at or above the average necessary for graduation;
complete and document the required number of hours of work per academic credit;
be physically present in the workplace for a majority of the claimed hours worked;
complete a student evaluation of the internship and procure your field supervisor's evaluation of your work; and
not receive compensation for the hours claimed for academic credit, although some internships permit compensation.

Internship Rights

Fortunately, you have certain rights relating to the above internship responsibilities. The internship is not all about you. Your college or university and its internship office, director, and supervisor owe you certain obligations that you may be able to enforce as legal, constitutional, or contractual rights. Your internship enrollment agreement is, in essence, the school's contract promise to provide you with the internship opportunity. Your school's failure to do so could be a breach of contract. Your school, especially if it's a public college or university, should also generally provide you with fair notice and an opportunity to be heard before denying you the opportunity to complete your program and graduate because of alleged misconduct. And you may have other statutory rights relating to disabilities, Title IX laws, and other state and federal protections affecting your internship. That doesn't mean that you and your retained national education attorney advisor should go pounding on tables. On the contrary, academic officials generally expect academic demeanor, which can mean respect for the status, authority, office, and good intentions of those officials. That's in large part why you should retain national education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento to represent you in pursuing your internship rights. Attorney advisor Lento has substantial skills, experience, and sensitivity for academic administrative matters.

Internship Compensation Rights and Restrictions

Internships can be confusing around one important issue: compensation. Many students expect their internship to be unpaid. Some employers, though, may offer compensation in their internship programs. Indeed, when an employer offers an internship without a sponsoring school and without substantial educational content so that the employer rather than the student is the primary beneficiary in the relationship, then the federal Fair Labor Standards Act may require the employer to compensate the student. Yet some schools may refuse to offer academic credit when the employer compensates the student intern. Be sure going into the internship that you understand your school's requirements relating to compensation, the site's stance on compensation, and your own ability to pursue the internship without compensation.

Internship Economic Hardship

Serving an internship with all its required hours but without compensation is an economic hardship for many students, as press reports indicate. Internships aren't just a matter of working a lot of hours for free. Internships can also impose extra costs for things like transportation to and from the internship site, parking at the internship site, meals at or near the site, professional clothing, and even briefcases, bags, and other accouterments and equipment. Manage your internship as best you can to meet its economic hardship. As much as you can, plan in advance so that your internship doesn't crash and burn over your internship expenses and the internship hours you'll incur without compensation. Consider these internship strategies to address economic hardship:

working more hours at your paying job to cover internship costs while spreading out internship hours so as not to unduly reduce your income;
increase and compress internship hours into shorter periods while taking breaks from other activities, to reduce total impact and costs;
obtaining scholarships, grants, loans, or family gifts to cover internship expenses or other unrelated living expenses during the internship;
reducing costs of other activities, especially recreation and leisure, while completing the internship;
sharing rides, parking, meals, and other internship expenses with other students or site colleagues; and
modifying housing, transportation, childcare arrangements, and other life basics while completing the internship.

Internship Timeline Issues

Internships often have strict timelines within a degree program. Those timelines can create issues for students completing the internship and gaining the required academic credit. The timelines for undergraduate internships at the University of Michigan, for instance, begin with deadlines for applying for each internship published on the university's internship hub. Once an undergraduate applies and the university approves the application and enrolls the student in the internship, though, a bigger timeline issue arises: the student must complete the internship hours either within the academic semester or academic year, according to the enrollment. A student cannot just take as long as the student wishes to complete the internship hours, obtain and submit internship evaluations, and satisfy any other documentation requirements. Instead, the student must treat the internship like the student would treat other academic courses, completing the internship within the assigned timeline. Satisfying the hours requirement by the end of the semester or school year is among the biggest internship challenges. Some of the reasons why students cannot timely complete internship hours include:

the internship site closes temporarily or permanently;
the internship site fails to schedule enough student hours;
the internship site schedules student hours but sends the student home;
the internship site fails to document all the hours the student works;
the student suffers an illness or injury incapacitating the student from work;
the student has a dependent who needs critical care;
the student faces a separation, divorce, or other interfering proceeding;
the student suffers job loss or another financial setback;
the student's job demands more hours or travel; and
the student faces harassment, discrimination, or other interference.

Addressing Internship Timeline Issues

Certain strategies can help address internship timeline issues. One strategy is to involve your school's internship supervisor and internship program director early. Don't wait until the semester or school year is approaching its end. As soon as you see that you are falling behind in hours for one of the above reasons or other reasons, alert your school internship officials so that you can have their help addressing the issue. If the issue is the internship site, your school may assign you to another field supervisor or internship site. If the issue is your incapacity, your school may assign you to another internship of which you are capable or permit your internship withdrawal without penalty. If the issue involves your finances, your school may have financial resources from which you can draw. If you face harassment or discrimination, or inappropriate supervision, assignments, or support, your school should promptly address and correct those conditions. Retain national education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team to help you invoke these strategies if internship timeline issues are delaying or threatening your graduation and you are not getting your school's prompt help. Don't let timeline issues fester because they tend to get worse rather than better as the internship's end approaches.

Internship Professionalism Standards

Internship sites are working sites where professional standards apply. Intern professionalism at medical facilities, mental health facilities, law firms, financial firms, and other sites involving sensitive and high-risk professional performance can be especially critical to the student's perseverance and success. An unprofessional intern could lose the internship in the first few days if not attentive to standards at those sensitive internship sites. But almost any internship site has its professional standards, even internship sites outside the medical, legal, and other traditional professional fields. Internships in Colorado State University's master's degree program in public history are an example, requiring interns to maintain professional standards of courteous behavior, reliable attendance, prompt arrivals, direct and respectful resolution of issues, and compliance with the American Historical Association's Standards of Professional Conduct. The Association's employment standards include accuracy in credentials, avoiding conflicts of interest, avoiding harassment and discrimination, and meeting professional standards relating to integrity and plagiarism. No matter your field of study, your internship site is very likely to impose professional standards with which you must comply or risk facing misconduct issues.

Internship Misconduct Issues

Intern misconduct, actual or merely alleged, can become a significant issue delaying or preventing your completion of internship hours and requirements and delaying or preventing your graduation. Your internship site, not your school, generally sets the conduct standards and thus generally makes the misconduct allegation and determines internship site dismissal. Your school generally won't try to force your internship site to continue your internship if your site believes you are unfit or unable to meet its standards. But your internship site may well accept your school's guidance on intern misconduct standards. One campus of the University of Texas, for instance, urges in its Employer Internship Guide that employers not routinely dismiss interns but instead exhibit "a high level of patience" while trying to let the internship run its brief course. "Dismissal of interns should only occur in cases of major misconduct (theft, assault, use of controlled substances in the workplace, etc.) or instances of significant violation of company or organization policy after prior instruction," the Employer Internship Guide counsels employers. Yet interns do face dismissal for misconduct, most commonly of these types:

personal misconduct such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse, weapons possession, or pornography on work computers;
inappropriate personal demeanor such as non-conforming dress, unclean clothing, body or breath odors, and dirty, disheveled, or unkept hair;
inappropriate professional relationships such as sexual advances, harassment, discrimination, insults, offenses, slurs, or disrespect of supervisors or subordinates;
abuse or neglect of patients, neglect of client matters, or substandard performance or care harming or threatening patient or client interests;
criminal charges or convictions, or civil lawsuits or judgments, embarrassing the employer organization and harming its reputation;
attendance issues, especially failing to show up for scheduled duties without advance notice, chronic tardiness, or misrepresenting hours;
honesty and integrity issues such as false, exaggerated, misleading, or altered documentation issues;
theft or misuse of, or damage to, employer computers, equipment, or other property; and
breach of confidentiality, unauthorized access to files and records, and unauthorized copying or distribution of employer records.

Internship Misconduct Procedures

Interns facing misconduct issues should generally have fair notice of the misconduct charges and an opportunity to tell their side of the story before an impartial decision-maker. The University of Texas, for instance, urges in its Employer Internship Guide that "the supervisor recommending dismissal must be able to clearly articulate in writing the reasons for dismissal and have it reviewed by a high level of management. Additionally, a written report should be provided to the faculty internship coordinator or university internship coordinator." Internship program directors may then follow school procedures to determine how to treat the internship and whether the employer allows the intern to continue or not. The misconduct procedures for psychology interns at Virginia's James Madison University are an example. Those procedures advise or require each of these steps before the intern's dismissal:

clarifying in writing the internship program expectations for interns exhibiting problematic behavior;
clarifying the procedures for evaluating the intern's problematic behavior so that the intern understands the performance measures;
involving the intern's academic supervisor in the performance issues to ensure appropriate guidance;
adopting a remediation plan with steps and timeline to bring the intern back into compliance with standards;
if remediation fails, notifying the intern of a hearing with the academic supervisor and program director for the intern to explain any exonerating or mitigating grounds;
notifying the intern in writing of the program director's decision and action, beginning with probation, followed by suspension and then dismissal in appropriate cases;
explaining the appeal procedures for the intern to challenge the program action including internship dismissal.

Addressing Internship Misconduct Issues

Intern misconduct procedures like those above give a student intern a chance to retain a skilled and experienced national education attorney advisor to advocate for the dismissal of misconduct charges or alternative relief. National education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team have successfully represented hundreds of students nationwide in defense of misconduct and other issues relating to internships and other programs of higher education. Depending on your particular internship challenge and the stage of your school proceeding, attorney advisor Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team may take any or all of these steps to achieve your best outcome:

evaluate the allegations, charges, and procedures with you to determine the best strategic course for an early and successful resolution of all charges;
promptly communicate and negotiate with school officials in informal resolution conferences, proposing reasonable alternatives to internship suspension or dismissal;
answer allegations while obtaining the site's and school's evidence, if any, of misconduct or unprofessionalism;
help you gather and present your own evidence exonerating you from false allegations and mitigating any credible charges;
help you prepare for and attend any formal hearing to present your side of the story and advocate for dismissal or compromise resolution;
prepare and undertake appeals of any adverse decisions for your reinstatement in the internship program to complete your degree; and
if you have already exhausted all procedures, reach out to the school general counsel or other oversight officials for alternative special relief in lieu of civil litigation.

Overcoming Other Internship Challenges

Completing internship hours affordably while avoiding misconduct or unprofessionalism charges may be an intern's greatest challenge. But other challenges can also loom. Yet effective strategic responses to each of those challenges may exist, depending on your circumstances. A skilled and experienced national education attorney advisor can help you discern and deploy those strategies. Consider these potential strategies and solutions, advocated by your retained national education attorney advisor, for these other common internship issues:

for poor internship site supervision, your internship site may assign a new supervisor, your site may move you to another department under a different supervisor, or your school may move you to another site;
for inadequate internship resources and accommodations, your internship site may offer additional resources or accommodations or assign you to another role or location with appropriate resources and accommodations, or your school may reassign you to another internship;
for unreasonable customer, client, or patient demands, your internship site may investigate those issues, assign your supervisor or another experienced employee to handle those individuals, and correct any false allegations against you, or your school may reassign you to an internship site capable of better management and supervision;
for poor academic support from the school, your program director, department dean, or other school oversight official may reassign you to a new academic supervisor;
for unreasonable scheduling demands at your internship site, your academic advisor or internship program director may intercede with the site supervisor to balance your schedule or reassign you to a new internship;
for absences due to illness, injury, or other cause, your internship site may offer you makeup hours, or your school may extend your time for completing the internship into the following semester or permit your withdrawal without penalty; and
for lack of hours to fulfill internship requirements, your internship site may offer you extended hours, or your school may reassign you to another site that offers adequate hours.

National Education Attorney Advisor Available

You have doubtless invested much in your college or university education, not only in tuition but also in the time you could have been earning income or engaging in other fruitful activities. Your investment in your college or university degree is worth preserving. Don't let a frustrating internship experience derail your education. National education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team are available to represent students nationwide in meeting and overcoming their internship and other school challenges. Attorney advisor Lento has successfully represented hundreds of students from coast to coast, proving that he has the skill and experience you need to resolve your internship issues. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now.