Internships are seen as a vital stepping stone for college students for their prospective careers, but in some cases, they are exploitative tools for employers to use.
The topic of unpaid internships recently started trending on Twitter, with many users recognizing the practice as a form of labor exploitation.
Interns deserve to get paid for the work they do.
They don’t have to be compensated as much as other full-time and part-time employees, but they at least deserve something. College students have bills just like the other employees on payroll do; my apartment complex still wants rent at the first of the month.
Unpaid internships are just another way to keep the rich rich and the poor poor: many low-income students cannot afford to work for free; however, students from higher income families would not be as economically affected by working for free and gaining that oh-so-valuable internship experience.
Low-income students have to sacrifice opportunities in their prospective careers to work jobs that most likely have nothing to do with their majors in order to pay the bills, while students from high-income backgrounds get a chance to get their foot in the door at major companies.
The practice of unpaid internships is another way for employers to save money. I doubt these companies care about helping students gain experience.
These organizations have to tread a fine line regarding unpaid internships because they are borderline illegal and certainly unethical, yet so many still choose to offer unpaid rather than paid internships.

For example, take the United Nations, which hires unpaid interns all the time. Some of their internships require 40-hour work weeks for six months. The UN hypocritically advocates for human rights, but simultaneously exploits free labor.

Low-income students that decide to accept unpaid internships often have to compensate for this by working other jobs on top of that. Students are forced to juggle these responsibilities, which might unfairly affect their ability to work. 

Some universities even require students  to participate in an internship in order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, which pressures many to work in unpaid roles.
In these cases, students are paying full-price tuition to work at a company for free. Can you see how this practice further marginalizes low-income students?
Universities need to stand up for their students and protect them from occupational exploitation. They should not allow employers to exploit their students for free labor and should demand that their partner organizations compensate interns fairly.
Unpaid internships should be abolished. Hiring organizations should not substitute actual compensation with positions that “pay in experience” because, at the end of the day, experience cannot pay the bills. We can’t afford to work for free in 2021.
Tamia Southall is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from New Orleans.