Senior government and politics and information systems major

Last summer, I worked for 10 hours every weekday. I commuted into Washington to intern at a market research firm from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., then worked a part-time job at a local Starbucks for four hours in the evening.

Even though my friends told me I was crazy to do an unpaid internship while holding a paid job, I realized that was basically my only option to gain work experience and earn some cash on the side. Did it suck having to commute everywhere? Yeah. And did I highly enjoy screwing up customers’ coffee orders every night? Not really.

My experience in the unpaid labor pool, however, opened up new doors for me — including a paid internship in the fall and some high-profile references in the market research world.

For the past year, Intern Justice, an organization that fights “unpaid intern exploitation,” has been filing lawsuits against companies that hire student workers for no pay. Some say unpaid internships should be illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which provides specific criteria to determine whether individuals working at a for-profit firm should actually receive pay.

As much as anyone would prefer a paid internship over an unpaid one, college students shouldn’t stray away from applying for unpaid internships nor think they are somehow “better” than unpaid labor.

First, my unpaid internship experience gave me opportunities and valuable experience I could use to promote myself for a paid internship or job in the future. I can tell you now: If all of the company’s internships were paid, I probably wouldn’t have gotten any position. After all, what company would pay me if I literally had no experience in the field and so many other applicants did?

Working unpaid positions now can be seen as an investment in the future — you’re sacrificing some income today for a higher chance of getting more income in the future.

Forcing private firms to pay all of their interns may seem like a step toward equality, but it can actually hurt those looking to get their feet in the door. A company is obviously going to have an intern cap if all of its internships are paid, which could hurt individuals who have little experience and are less likely to get paid work.

Even if unpaid internships replace paid labor, the free exchange of labor provides people with more opportunities for paid jobs in the future.

Some argue that unpaid internships hurt individuals who want to work away from home and need to pay for housing. But this is the time when financial planning comes in. Everyone’s financial situation isn’t the same, which is why you might have to work another job on the side, like I did. As college students seriously looking for employment, we need to actually act like adults and realize we have to make sacrifices to get what we want.

Some cite how Fox Searchlight Pictures and the Hearst Corporation exploit unpaid interns by making them work long hours with no wages. But doesn’t the intern have the right to apply to work for another company if he or she is so unhappy?

The beauty of having businesses determine for themselves whether or not they’ll have paid internships is that we get choices. Companies offer different types of work experience at either paid or unpaid rates.

The truth is, I loved my unpaid internship. I loved learning things that I would never have learned in the classroom. If organizations such as Intern Justice continue to sue companies who offer unpaid internships, people like me might never be able to get solid work experience that will lead to successful, paid jobs after graduation.

Caroline Carlson is a sophomore government and politics and information systems major. She can be reached at caroline.crlsn@gmail.com.