Internships for Credit 101

There are a lot of questions swirling around interning for credit, so today’s mission is to provide answers to as many of those as possible!

Not every internship requires or offers credit – some will be paid, others may offer a one-time stipend or cover costs like transportation or meals. You’ll never see a paid internship offer credit, though, because a companies often use credit in order to check the “compensation” box. By law, companies are supposed to compensate anyone who works for them, and interns can very easily be counted in that category. Since giving you credit is free to the company, it’s more budget friendly.

Ideally, you will be paid for your internship, but if credit enters the picture, here’s what you need to know.

First, earning credit for internships at Newhouse will never replace a class. There are some classes you can enroll in that include an internship as part of the course, but electing to intern for credit outside of that won’t allow you to skip another requirement. Your internship will, however, be counted toward the total number of credits needed to graduate.

From here, the question of whether you can intern for credit and what that process looks like depends on what type of student you are.

If you are a graduate student: The simplest answer can be provided to you! Yes, you may intern for credit, and yes, you will have to pay for that credit. As a master’s student, this is true for any credits you’re earning, and (unfortunately!) an internship credit is no different. To register your credit, wait until you have accepted an internship offer, then follow these steps.

If you are an undergraduate student: You may intern for credit if you have junior standing (meaning, you’re considered juniors by the number of credits they have already earned toward their degree – your academic advisor can help you determine this if you’re unsure about transfer or AP credit), or if you petition their major’s department to earn the credit.

If an undergraduate earns the credit during the academic year, there is no extra cost required, as the credit earned would be covered by the semester’s tuition (so long as you’re not already taking 19 credits, which is very rarely the case).

Over the summer, though, it’s a different story. Summer credits are not covered by academic year tuition, so you will have to pay out of pocket! (I know: YIKES!) As a result, the Newhouse Career Development Center recommends that undergrads interning for credit during the summer:

• Ask the company if the internship credit is a requirement. Some companies will make it optional. Earning credit for an internship doesn’t make it any more elite or noteworthy, so you won’t be losing anything by doing this and, rather, saving money!
• If you decide to intern for credit, enroll of ONE credit. There are no hour maximums on credits, meaning one credit can “cover you” for the whole summer.
• Consider applying for the Internship Funding Award. It has two parts and you can ask for either or both components. It can cover internship expenses (providing funding toward housing, rent, travel, etc. related to internships – you can ask for this part of the award for any internship you have as an SU student) and a credit waiver (waives the tuition cost for one internship – you’ll still register the internship for credit but you won’t have to pay for the credit; this part of the award is one-and-done, meaning you can only receive the waiver once as an SU student). You can find the Award application by searching for “internship funding award” on Handshake.
• If you’ve already used up your one-and-done IFA waiver, you can try to enroll in a community college in order to pay a lower rate on the required credit. However, it’s likely you won’t be able to transfer the credit into SU, so you’ll basically just pay the community college’s fee in order to intern.

If you’re an undergraduate who wants/is required to intern for credit, note that you don’t have to do anything to register the internship until you accept an internship offer! Once that happens, you should review these instructions and jump into the process as soon as possible.

Whether you’re an undergrad or a master’s student, the whole process of interning for credit can be a little confusing to navigate, but don’t worry. That’s what the Newhouse Career Development Center is here for! Never hesitate to reach out if you have questions along the way. Email us at nhcdc@syr.edu or set up an appointment through Handshake!

PS If you’re just starting the internship process, check out our resources for finding an internship here and sign up for our “Finding an Internship” seminar here!