It seems Nat King Cole's lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are long gone for college students of the world.
If you are a college student or the parent of one, you probably know what I am talking about.
Summers are no longer about days or weeks spent soaking up the sun by the pool or going on trips with your family and friends. It is the season for internships, making connections and preparing for "the future."
These days, a majority of colleges not only strongly advise students to participate in some kind of practicum or internship program but require it in order to graduate. This gives students the opportunity to be professionally-trained before graduation as the job market continues to become more competitive.
Schools help students find these by offering internship-specific career fairs, having a host of advisors dedicated to finding internships for students and partnering with organizations across the country and world to offer positions wherever a student may want to go.
In recent years, my alma mater, The University of Tennessee, has required students within certain majors to do a practicum or internship - journalism being one of them.
Like many of my classmates and fellow university comrades across the country, I spent the summer between my junior and senior years gaining real-world experience - unpaid.
That's right. Not one penny did I make, all because it was considered an educational experience. I would say most of you, even those who love their job, also like getting paid for what you do.
On top of not making anything for the couple hundred hours I worked, I had to pay the university for participating in the internship/ practicum program in order to receive credit. The one that they required.
This blew my mind, and most of my summer budget.
Although I worked about 30 hours a week at my "job" because it was unpaid I had to get a second one - that did paid - to cover living expenses.
However, I didn't question the legitimacy of the free work I provided thanks to the old adage, "You can't get a job without experience, but you won't gain experience until you have a job."
I saw the internship as my ticket to some experience - even if it did come with a lofty price tag on my end. I also saw no other way of completing my coursework without it since it was required to graduate.
Many students feel the same pressure I did to take an unpaid position in hopes of getting that coveted experience in order to graduate and land a job after college. For financially bound students, it can be an even tougher road.
I was lucky that my parents helped me all the way through college and that unpaid internship. Not everyone has that luxury.
What happens to those students?
I am happy to learn former New York labor commissioner and now the federal Labor Department's top law enforcement official, M. Patricia Smith, questioning the legality of unpaid internships.
An April article in the New York Times, ("The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not") delves into this issue further talking to students who have taken these types of internships and professionals. Officials in states, including Oregon and California, have started investigations and fined employers.
It is legal to have unpaid internships if they meet certain criteria. However, Smith believes many are not. It can be hard to find those companies who are not in compliance with the labor laws because interns are afraid to come forth. Many fear being branded as a trouble-maker, making it hard for them to get hired in the future.
Although there are paid internships out there, the number of unpaid positions is definitely going up as businesses face budget issues.
But the article stresses that if you or your son or daughter is doing a job that is not educational - such as getting coffee, making copies - or taking the place of an employee who would normally be paid, the company is breaking the law.
As internship season gears up, make sure your student is getting both the educational and monetary compensation they deserve.
No matter what your socioeconomic standing, college, and life, is expensive. Summer jobs have been a way to help offset those costs, but most are not within students' fields.
An internship can be a way to marry the need to make money for school and gain field-related experience, if conducted properly and fairly.
•Contact Andrea Hall at ahall@gwcommonwealth.com.
