Who pays for unpaid internships?
Students certainly do, in the form of their labor. So does the Tufts Career Center — through its summer internship grant program. The $4,500 grant covers full-time internships at nonprofit, public and certain private-sector organizations.
Compensation “allows for more students to access … transformational and career-building experiences,” Sheryl Rosenberg, the Career Center’s associate director, wrote in an email to the Daily.
Paid interns received more job offers on average, according to surveys of college graduates by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. However, a persistent lack of resources in social impact and nonprofit sectors limits students’ ability to take internships, particularly if students are from first-generation or low-income backgrounds.
Each summer, the Career Center funds 40–50 otherwise unpaid opportunities for students. The majority of stipends are donor-supported, Rosenberg wrote. All undergraduates, including international students, are eligible to apply for the general stipend. Some stipend categories give preference to students receiving financial aid or from underrepresented backgrounds. Others focus on a particular area of study, like environmental science, entrepreneurship or the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
“Each year internships range from biomedical research at local hospitals and research centers, to museums in Washington, D.C., animal sanctuaries in Hawaii, and international NGOs,” Rosenberg wrote.
Lily Segal, a senior majoring in environmental studies and economics, received a grant two summers ago to intern at Environment America. Not only did she gain direct professional experience — even testifying at the Massachusetts State House as a clean water advocate — but she credits that internship with landing her next summer position.
“My supervisor wrote a lovely letter of recommendation and reached out to my future supervisor … advocating for me,” Segal said.
While Segal’s internship solidified her interest in an environmental advocacy career, that isn’t the case with every work experience. This grant also enables students to explore options while early in their journeys.
“Any opportunity to work in a field that you’re passionate about is valuable because that’s the only way you can really know if you’re on the right track,” Erin Guy, a senior and prior grant recipient, said.
Guy interned in 2023 at Camp Baker, a day camp and summer treatment program. At the time, she wanted to become a children’s psychologist — this internship provided clinical experience and mentorship from Ph.D. candidates. Since then, she’s decided to pursue pre-law studies but remains guided by the experience of working with children with ADHD and behavioral disorders.
“I wanted to be more involved in advocating for kids,” Guy said. “I want to [implement] policy that can help them so that the work isn’t as heavy for the psychologists.”
The entrepreneurial internship grant also helped Aria Ma, a fourth-year combined degree student studying biopsychology and studio art, look outside traditional career paths this past summer.
“It was getting this internship that provided me support to know that I could pivot from medicine,” Ma said. “Pivoting showed me this summer that I have so many transferable skills.”
Ma worked as an operations intern at Three Trees Farm, a gourmet mushroom farming business near her hometown. Her responsibilities included improving crop yields, market research and product design.
“I learned how to actually [make] my graphic design skills applicable to the real world,” Ma said.
The entrepreneurial grant applies not only to interns at startups but also to those at any company with a mindset of innovation.
“A lot of companies are looking for entrepreneurial skills, and that doesn't necessarily mean [making] your own business, but having initiative, leadership [and] strategic thinking,” Ma said.
The application requires candidates to have secured a summer position before the deadline of March 16, but the Career Center offers support with the internship search. Rosenberg noted that Handshake is the “#1 place” students find internships, and Career Center advisers are available to review students’ resumes and assist them with questions.
Past grant recipients emphasized the benefit of reaching out to professors and various sources about opportunities. Guy learned about her internship through her psychology lab, Ma met the Three Trees founders at a farmers’ market and Segal found hers at Tufts’ spring career fair.
Segal acknowledged the oftentimes complex logistics of juggling different timelines. The Career Center releases funding decisions in early April.
“I had to commit to the Environment America internship before the summer, and then there was a month-long period where I didn’t know if I was going to get funded for it,” Segal said.
The grant funding corresponds to the Massachusetts minimum wage for 300 full-time hours, Rosenberg wrote. Massachusetts law states that interns must be paid, but exceptions exist for academic credit and certain “trainees,” leaving enforcement unclear in many cases.
“I probably would not have been able to do that kind of internship without the internship grant, because it requires a lot of time,” Guy said.
These students generally shared that factors such as already having housing or a part-time job assisted with their living situation over the summer.
“It’s very nice the school offers this to as many people as it can,” Guy said. “[It] definitely changed my life, so hopefully plenty of other people can take advantage.”
Students may only receive the Career Center grant once, but Rosenberg also suggested searching for alternative sources through Foundation Directory Online, Fastweb, National Science Foundation and Tufts’ database. For example, Segal obtained funding the summer after through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s internship program.
“I highly encourage people who are in situations where they can’t take unpaid internships to look at other resources: community foundations, local grants from organizations, not just a school,” Ma said.
Besides holding daily drop-in career labs, the Career Center will host a career fair tomorrow and an informational session on Feb. 21 for the internship grant. It will also offer a workshop titled “No Internship? No Problem!” on Feb. 27.
“Because there is funding available, it’s a really awesome opportunity to do something … that’s interesting to you and excites you,” Segal said. “At a school like Tufts, there can be a lot of pressure to immediately try to enter a field … where you’ll make a lot of money … but if it’s not necessarily what you want to do, and it’s just what you feel like you should do, then try something else.”
