It used to be that college degrees opened many doors for graduates’ futures. 

However, with youth unemployment the highest it’s been since the 1940s, that’s no longer the case. To get established, students are expected to complete an internship for their resume to be viable. Even if they don’t receive a paycheck, it’s just part of paying their dues. 

Mike McCoy, a Wichita State graduate, saw a relationship between internships and future employment. He worked as an intern at Sullivan Higdon and Sink, an advertising agency. 

“The (students) that ended up getting jobs were the ones that were doing internships every summer,” McCoy said.

In the past few years, the number of internships has increased. In a 2008 study, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 50 percent of graduating students had held internships, more than twice the 17 percent a 1992 Northwestern University study cited. Experts say that one-fourth to one-half of internships are unpaid.

Most of the 450 internships and co-ops at WSU are paid, WSU’s Cooperative Education and Work-Based Learning Director Connie Dietz said. Unpaid internships are not uncommon.

 “It (unpaid internships) is something we do battle with, particularly with non-profits,” Dietz said.

She also said the co-op office researches internships to ensure they’re academically relevant. The department sometimes visits unfamiliar offices.

“This had better be a worthwhile experience for students to go into and not get paid,” Co-op and Internship Marketing Director Kim Kufahl said. 

If the office can’t convince a company to pay its interns, they try to limit the student’s hours to allow time for a paying job.

To be precluded from the requirement to pay minimum wage, companies’ internships are required to fulfill six criteria. The Labor Department requires that unpaid internships be educational, not replace regular employees and not lure students with promises of future employment.

Even when companies abide by these rules, unpaid internships are unsavory to many students. They give an advantage to wealthier students who can afford not to make money, while a poorer student just can’t make that work. 

“I think it makes it very difficult for students, especially those who are trying to hold down a family,” social work major Rayna Serna said. 

In social work, students are required to have a “practicum” to gain field experience. Practicums are often unpaid. 

“The choice to take an internship is not only contingent on a student’s qualifications, but also his or her economic means, thus institutionalizing socioeconomic disparities beyond college,” a 2010 report by the Economic Policy Institute recorded.  

Supporters of unpaid internships say no one favors interns from private school, with tutors and laptops, which also give advantages to wealthier students.

Unpaid interns have been speaking out, something that’s daunting for someone who wants to make a good impression with future employers. Two unpaid interns who worked on the movie “Black Swan” filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. In a similar lawsuit, Charlie Rose’s production company agreed to pay back their 200 past interns $110 per week they worked.

New York lawyer Maurice Pianko founded Intern Justice, an online service created to help unpaid interns with labor disputes. The U.S. Department of Labor is also taking a closer look at employers who offer unpaid internships.

“It makes me sick to see these intern ads on Craigslist,” Pianko said. “These employers are openly breaking the law.”

But if unpaid internships are legally scrutinized, the long-term result may be fewer available internships, not more paid ones. A company takes on a risk by hiring inexperienced college graduates, but they’re more likely to bite the bullet if they save money. But in the long run, companies might be safer to pay interns for the work they do. The money saved through unpaid internships may be devoured by lawsuits filed by indignant workers.