Paid Internships a Wise Investment in Our Future
By Adrienne Arsht and Felix V. Matos-Rodriguez
Crain’s New York, February 4, 2021
Unpaid internships have for years been the first step to successful careers, whether in publishing, finance, the fashion industry or other arenas. The logic behind unpaid internships is that the experience gained and contacts made are payment enough.
The problem, however, is that only students with means can afford not to be paid. For students who need to supplement their family income in order to pay their tuition, unpaid internships are simply not an option. They literally cannot afford to take this traditional first step up the career ladder. Students who work to pay for college—a group of strivers predominantly from minority communities—miss out on the opportunity to make valuable professional contacts and acquire the résumé-enhancing experience that unpaid internships provide. Not surprisingly, the communities these students come from are under-represented across a broad range of industries.
During the Depression, S. Samuel Arsht was a student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He was offered a prestigious but unpaid position on the Law Review that he could not afford to accept because he had to earn money, which he did by teaching Hebrew school. It was a “what if” moment that followed him throughout his career. That was nearly 90 years ago. Today, many students still ask themselves, “what if I got an internship instead of having to work at a job that doesn’t support my career path?”
We have come together today to urge business leaders and philanthropists to invest in the future by offering paid internships to undergraduates.
Because of Samuel Arsht’s experience, this summer the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new Adrienne Arsht Internship Program was funded to allow their undergraduate interns to be fully paid, lowering the barrier to entry into the arts and hopefully reduce the “what if” factor.
Since this program at the Met was announced, many other cultural institutions have followed suit. A well-known Broadway talent agency adopted the policy. Beyond New York, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that any film submitted for an Oscar nomination starting in 2024 must pay the interns who have worked on the film.
Closer to home, the City University of New York is using $2 million from a Mellon Foundation grant to expand the CUNY Cultural Corps, which provides students with paid internships at New York City arts and cultural organizations. With additional support, CUNY will be able to place more students in internships and give them access to the training and exposure to pursue fulfilling careers in the arts and serve to further diversify the city’s cultural and nonprofit sectors.
The Corps was created in 2016 to create an avenue to careers in New York City arts and arts administration for CUNY students. With additional support, CUNY will be able to place more students in internships and give them access to the training and exposure to pursue fulfilling careers in the arts and serve to further diversify the city’s cultural and nonprofit sectors.
In August, CUNY partnered with the New York Jobs CEO Council on a program that aims to create 100,000 paid internships and jobs for graduates, including 25,000 for CUNY graduates. Our data shows that students who have had paid internships get jobs after graduation quicker than those with unpaid internships, and at higher salaries.
Higher education focuses on “student success,” the term of art for helping students stay on track, complete their degrees and graduate on time. The focus needs to expand to postgraduate success. Specifically, how well—and how equitably—are we preparing students to explore career options and then readying them for those opportunities?
Many graduates embark on their next chapter without the experience and professional relationships required in the modern job market. This is especially true of graduates of public colleges and universities, as they are often first-generation students from under-represented communities and lack the social networks that can be crucial to get and succeed at that first job.
That’s why we need to take a far more active role in moving students onto career paths. One tested way is paid internships. Internships provide students with real-world opportunities that match their aspirations, complement their academic work, while also putting money in students’ pockets, assisting with food, transportation and housing needs.
This week, the first-ever class of Adrienne Arsht Interns will begin their career journey at The Met. The paid interns will work across a variety of departments, learning not only about research, restoration and presenting some of humanities’ greatest artistic works, but also arts administration, and the art of networking. This new initiative now makes the Met the country’s largest art institution to fully pay interns. And we are thrilled CUNY is represented in this first class.
Finally, change is happening. But not soon enough for the thousands of striving students who’ve been hit with new challenges since the pandemic.
Together we call on all business leaders and philanthropists to make paid internships a priority, especially in these challenging times. It’s an investment that will pay off handsomely in the future, as the rewards of having a vibrant and diverse work force of brilliant and ambitious young people not only improve society, but also the bottom line.
Adrienne Arsht is an impact philanthropist and Felix V. Matos-Rodriguez is the Chancellor of City University of New York (CUNY)
