BizSugar.com › Human Resources › Should You Pay Your Student Intern?

Nickerson PME is one of a growing number of small business owners who feel comfortable offering students an internship experience without financial compensation. It's a model that is becoming increasingly controversial within the higher education community, where career-services professionals say students should be paid at least minimum wage. Complicating matters, some employers ask that the student receive college credit for their work in order to avoid having to pay them, a demand that puts students from low- or middle-income backgrounds at a disadvantage. It means students have to pay their college for that course credit, a cost that can add up to several thousand dollars.

"Increasingly, there are concerns from not just an ethical standpoint, but also potentially a legal standpoint [since] these people are doing work for you and not being compensated for that work," said Manny Contomanolis, director of the career-services office at Rochester Institute of Technology and president-elect of the board of the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE). "What are the implications of that, and what kind of message does it send to your own employees and community?"