Old Westbury and Manhattan – NYIT students have passed the $1 million mark in combined earnings from paid internships since 2009, capping a surge in activities and advocacy for paid positions by the Office of Career Services.

"Our partnerships with employers have paid off—literally," said Dean of Career Services John Hyde. "We've worked to ensure that employers recognize that interns who perform work that benefit their operations must be paid at least the minimum wage."

The Career Services office launched the Internship Certificate Program in 2009, a centralized program to support students who wanted to find internships outside the traditional model that provided academic credit only for internship work. Since that time, NYIT has effectively counseled more than 600 employers on Federal and state labor laws that require most interns to be paid for their work.

"If an intern is expected to contribute to the company's everyday operations or in the planning or implementation of special projects or events, the intern should be paid," said Assistant Dean of Career Services Amy Bravo.

Bravo said she knew of one company that reversed course after hiring an NYIT student for an unpaid internship.

"The company was gracious for the labor law information, and the student was able to afford the cost of transportation to the position, food for the week, and was able to save a few dollars for books for next semester. A small investment made by a company can have huge impact on a student."

The Wall Street Journal featured Bravo in a story earlier this year about paid internships, noting that she "has become known in career-services circles for her success converting unpaid jobs into paid ones."

Students said paid internships offer both monetary and professional benefits.

"With a paid internship, I believe they depend on me more," said second-year student Anthony Holloway, who interns at an architectural and design firm. "I'm producing work for the actual firm. They give me more responsibilities and they make me feel like an actual employee."

Senior Christa Ciano, a counselor at the nonprofit Growth and Development Services in Washington Heights, said her internship gives her valuable experience for her future career. The paycheck, she said, means she doesn't have to spend weekends working to support herself, rather than studying and completing school assignments.  

"It'll definitely help me with paying bills and allows me to quit my weekend job," she said. "Paid internships are extremely important."

Bravo noted that NYIT's Career Net postings currently list 189 paid internships and 90 unpaid internships.

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About NYIT

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has more than 12,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.

Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, nearly 100,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.

Elaine Iandoli
Office of Communications and Marketing
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