Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Unpaid internships have become a nearly ubiquitous feature of the modern economy. For many students, they offer the opportunity to explore their field of interest before later attempting to find a paid job. While the prevalence of unpaid work opportunities creates a number of problems for those who don’t have the resources and support to forgo a paid summer position, they are a necessary stepping stone into the workplace for many fields in which the College offers courses, including politics, film and finance. They allow for the exploration of fields not offered and roads not taken, providing the sort of tangible experience absent during the rest of the year. By offering credit for summer internships in addition to the J-term internships that it already credits, Middlebury would grant students more freedom for that exploration.

This is not just a case of adding more paths for students to get the 36 credits necessary to graduate. Under the status quo, many unpaid internships are not available for students who do not receive college credit for their efforts. The purpose of changing the College’s policy is to increase options for students and to acknowledge the important role of internship experience in an education. The option to earn a maximum of two credits, in addition to the two already available in J-term, would not replace the learning opportunities gained through a broad array of courses. These would not count towards a major or towards any of the numerous required credit areas that define the liberal arts experience, but would create additional flexibility for students who come to Middlebury without extra AP and IB credits and who intern over the summer instead of the winter.

Under the current policy, Middlebury gives credit only to unpaid winter term internships. Students are able to receive a stipend to help cover living or transportation costs, but no more. To transpose such a policy to the summer would be inherently regressive, unfairly privileging those students who can draw on other resources and forgo funding over the summer months while still starting the year with money for books, food and the occasional day at the ski slopes.

Acknowledging the credit-worthiness of internships as an integral part of the undergraduate education means that their funding should fall under the same umbrella as financial aid. The typical summer stipend rarely covers full living expenses, either in the summer or beyond. Needing more money than that should never disqualify a hard-working student from seeking out the opportunities to learn pre-professional skills. Just as students who receive financial aid and work study opportunities during the academic year are still eligible to receive course credit and graduate from Middlebury, those who receive additional funding or pay for summer internships should not be prevented from earning the same course credit for their work as peers with the luxury of working for free.

In assigning credits for summer internships, the College should use a broad definition in deciding what constitutes an internship. Credit-bearing internships should involve demonstrated responsibility, a supervisor who can impart meaningful experiences, and a minimum number of a previous position. They shouldn’t be a seasonal position or a continuation of previous work. Students should have to complete an assignment – a journal or paper – that connects their experience to their broader education. But beyond that, Middlebury should allow flexibility to prevent the type of career funneling that would strip away that which makes this community diverse in experience.

In an economy that has failed to significantly expand since the supposed end of the great recession, many students fear that their liberal arts education – valuable as it is – does not provide them with all of the tools and expertise that employers now demand. Middlebury already provides credit for winter term internships. Expanding this policy to the summer would not devalue the liberal arts experience but would help to expand it year-round, while conceding that students here pay upwards of $200,000 over four years not only to intangibly expand their minds and thoughts, but to come out prepared for that sometimes-murky next chapter of their lives ready to tackle the myriad challenges of adulthood.