More than half of Americans no longer believe college is worth the cost. Paid internships could help

The U.S. labor market has not been particularly kind to America’s latest crop of college graduates. Estimates from the New York Federal Reserve indicate that recent college grads have faced higher unemployment rates than other workers, a shift from typical historical patterns. What’s more, roughly 40% of recent college grads are considered “underemployed,” meaning they are not working in a college-level job. With those sobering statistics in mind, it’s not surprising that more than half of Americans no longer believe college is worth the cost. 

Of course, cost is just one part of the higher education equation. Whether an education investment is worth it depends not just on what we pay, but on what we get in return. While most grads do reap economic benefits from their college experience, the lack of confidence among the general public should be taken seriously.

Research shows that students go to college for many purposes, but getting a good job consistently ranks among their chief reasons for pursuing a degree. Without the opportunity for meaningful work and economic security, the many other benefits of higher education are unlikely to be fully realized.

Unfortunately, one of the most promising ways to improve that return on investment remains out of reach for most students: internships. 

We believe internships are a crucial component of translating the college experience into a career. One year after graduation, students who completed a paid internship, for instance, earn $3,000 more than those who didn’t have one. Grads who participated in paid internships during college are far more likely to be satisfied with their careers and report higher annual income. They’re also more likely to believe the investment they made in their college education was worth the price. In addition, evidence suggests that internships are associated with improved academic outcomes, including higher grade point averages and increases in interpersonal skills, general knowledge, and critical thinking. 

Companies also see the return on investment of internships. One employer survey found the real-world experience internships offer was considerably more important to businesses hiring recent grads than college reputation, grade-point average, or even the relevance of coursework.

Students also know that internships matter. According to recent Strada Education Foundation research, nearly three-quarters of first-year students expect to have internship experiences before they graduate. Fewer than half of them, however, will have completed an internship by their senior year. Black and Latino students are significantly less likely to participate in internships than their white peers. 

If students and employers agree internships are valuable, why don’t more students complete them? 

As with so many challenges in education and the workforce, there’s no one answer. But the problem stems, in part, from the fact that many internships are unpaid. Even when students can cover tuition, room, and board—which they must often cobble together different funding sources to do—they often don’t have the resources to take an unpaid job, particularly if it involves forgoing other work they’re doing to support themselves or their families. That’s particularly true for students from low-income backgrounds, including many of those who are the first in their families to attend college. Research from Strada shows that while first-generation students are less likely to participate in internships, they are much more likely to work 20 hours per week. For continuing-generation learners, the opposite is true.

A growing number of colleges are coming to recognize that access to paid internships must be a critical part of their value proposition. In Virginia, this work is already underway. With support from state policymakers, college presidents across the commonwealth have embraced an ambitious, praiseworthy goal—that every college student who wants a paid internship should get one. There’s also growing momentum to make compensation mandatory for all internships: this fall, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, with major employers and leading universities across the U.S., called upon Congress to ban the practice of unpaid internships entirely. 

Despite these promising steps, we cannot hang our hopes on a national ban of unpaid internships. Even if such a ban were successful, it would not ensure that paid internships are available for all college students who want one. Policymakers, institutions, and businesses must envision a broader strategy to make paid internships accessible to as many students as possible. 

For colleges, redesigning and moving career services from the periphery to the core of the enterprise is a critical first step. Students who engage with career center services are 2.2 times more likely to secure a paid internship over an unpaid one or no internship. Unfortunately, career services offices often are under used and tend to be utilized too late in a student’s academic career to be impactful. Despite their significance, campus career centers have a median annual budget of only about $400,000. More financial support is just one piece of the puzzle, however. By strengthening their engagement with employers and more deeply integrating career services into every student’s academic experience, institutions can better align their work-based learning investments with the importance that students place on career outcomes. 

Employers, too, need help setting up and operating paid internships and work-based learning programs, a challenge that an emerging cadre of providers is starting to address. What makes some of these new models effective is that they’re designed to help colleges take these programs to scale and embed work-based learning in the curriculum. One such program through the Council of Independent Colleges aims to reach more than 11,000 students, acting as a force multiplier for its partner schools to help them make work-based learning more widely accessible. 

Policymakers at the state and federal levels have a role to play, as well. We believe states, for example, could redirect perennially underperforming economic development incentives to what businesses really care most about, which is attracting and retaining talent. Much of the fiscal effort currently being used by states to fuel tax breaks and incentives for economic development could instead be better directed to subsidizing internship opportunities and investing in the students who pursue them.

For colleges looking to demonstrate their value, and employers and policymakers hoping to create new pipelines of talent, the solution may lie in putting their money where their mouth is. Investing in expanded access to paid internships is a necessary step toward building a stronger, more equitable economy—and ensuring that millions of college students won’t see their career aspirations deflated before they even have a chance to put their costly, hard-earned skills to work.