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Although spending a semester working for little to no money is not most people’s idea of the best way to spend their time, internships pay off in the long run. As more companies begin to hire full-time employees from their past interns, obtaining a position in one of these programs can put a student on the fast track to success. The real problem comes in trying to determine if one can afford this experience without skipping on paying the rent.

Because of this financial conundrum, summer time is the most popular part of the year for internships. If a student forgoes taking classes for the season, many find that they have time needed to work both a part time job and handle the extra load of an internship. By devoting the time they would spend on their studies to an internship, most students do not experience as much stress as they would if they participated in such a program at a different time during the year.

Another option one could consider is taking a semester off of school to create an arrangement much like that many have during the summer break. Off season internships are often less competitive, due to the fact that there are less applicants during the school year. Foregoing one term’s classes, does not effect one’s financial aid in most circumstances, therefore recipients can easily return to class when the internship is over. In order to make sure this is the case at one’s college, the financial aid department should be contacted.

If one cannot take off a semester, another option is to obtain a student loan for life expenses. By doing this, one will have the time for both classes and the responsibilities of an internship without having to rack up insane interest payments on a credit card. In most cases federal loans are one’s best bet because these tend to have lower interest rates and payments can be delayed until after graduation. For those who are consider low income, subsidized loans are available. This financial arrangement is the best case scenario, due to the fact that, while the student remains in school, the government pays the interest payments. When the student graduates they are only responsible for the principal and the interest that is raked up while the loan is being paid off.

When given the option between a paying internship or one that offers only experience, the choice can be difficult. One should weight the renown of the company and the responsibilities of the position to make their decision. Remember, an internship with a better company, despite lack of payment, will often result in a job with a better company after graduation.

Tags: internships

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 10:27 am and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.