Interns from Ohio University’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology made an average of $17 per hour working almost exclusively paid internships last year.
“It’s very, very rare to have an unpaid position in engineering,” Dean Pidcock, director of professional experiences in the college, said.
He added many companies, especially the larger Fortune 500 companies, will provide housing if the student is going out of state.
Internships are not required for engineering students, although they’re strongly recommended. It’s very common for a student to work a co-op, which is an internship that involves a student working for an employer for two or more semesters, Pidcok said.
Swanagan Ray, a senior studying electrical engineering, completed a co-op working for DuPont’s Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia and was paid by the hour. In an email, he said DuPont recently offered him the chance to return and permanently fill the role he had worked during the co-op.
"The entire internship was incredibly valuable to me,” Ray said. “It enabled me to gain real world skills in a specific area of engineering, provided an income flow during each rotation and added many new contacts to my professional network.”
However, unpaid internships are not completely out of the question for engineering students in the Russ College. Pidcock cited an example where a student went to work at the Cleveland Clinic in an unpaid position.
“In that case, it was something the student really wanted to do and it aligned with his interests,” he said.
That example was the only one Pidcock could recall where an engineering intern from OU wasn’t paid.
"I won't say that unpaid internships are illegal, but I do think they are unfair and company policies need to change," Emily Blaha, a fifth-year senior studying chemical engineering, said in an email. "In my opinion, companies that provide unpaid internships are taking advantage of students. Students should at least be paid minimum wage for the hours they work, just like any other job."
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