NEWS
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August 27-September 2, 2009 • The Journal
College students struggle to gain experience and pay their bills BY JESSICA CARBALLO Sun Sentinel (MCT)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When college senior Kristina Webb, 23, decided to take an unpaid internship at a newspaper this summer, she thought she could make it work. She would live at home, get a part-time job, and cut back her spending. Her parents offered to help her pay for food and gas. But then Kristina’s father got laid off from his construction job, the family budget tightened, and Kristina, who attends Palm Beach Atlantic University, did not hear back from any of 35 part-time jobs she applied to. Blame it on the economy. “Everybody’s hurting, employers and students,” said Dawn Howard, Associate Director of the Career Development Center at Florida Atlantic University. As companies cut costs, the number of internship opportunities offered nationwide has dropped 21 percent from last year, according to the Pennsylvaniabased National Association of Colleges and Employers. Many that remain are unpaid. “We used to pay, but we’re not doing that anymore,” said Tom Triozzi, senior vice president of BankAtlantic, which stopped paying interns in 2008 when the
economy took a downturn. “We ask them to work for free for a great work experience,” Triozzi said. It’s this desire for experience that pushes students like Kristina to intern. “I know that if I don’t, it’s going to be harder for me to get a job in the future,” Webb said. So she got a job pet-sitting and interns several times a week at the Palm Beach’s Town-Crier newspaper, without pay. “It’s really frustrating, especially since I actually produce content for the TownCrier,” Webb said. “But it’s definitely worth it.” More than ever, internships are viewed as the surest route to a job after graduation. “Having an internship is absolutely essential,” said Christine Childers, director of Career Development at Lynn University, who advises, “Whatever it takes, it’s important that students do it.” But as the recession drags on, it’s taking a lot more than it used to, leaving students in a bind. They are told that internships are essential, no matter the cost, but as opportunities shrink and costs rise, they’re forced to ask: is this worth it? “If a student is in a hardship situation, payment can make a difference between whether they can intern or not,” Childers
said. For some, working for free is simply not possible. “It denies low income kids an opportunity,” said Barbara Pippin, special assistant to the president for governmental relations at Broward College. “Internships are similar to what study abroad programs used to be: if you had money, you could go.” For these students, internships become part of a daily balancing act. “They have to juggle work and school and internships, along with their other responsibilities, just to put in two or three hours, just so they can say ‘I did this,’” Pippin said. It’s a familiar situation for Amir Arab, 23. He had an unpaid internship last summer before being hired at a Miami financial company. Despite the positive experience, he said, one summer of unpaid work was enough. “I have a mortgage, and I have a daughter,” he said. “No one is going to pay my bills.” There is some good news, however. Companies like Target have kept their internship programs running — and paying — despite the sluggish economy, realizing the value of internships as recruiting tools.
“We get a lot of great talent,” said Victor Rota, group campus recruiter for Target. “Seventy to eighty percent of them come back to work for us, so the return on the investment is there.” Moreover, companies that offer paid internships are increasing the hourly wage by 5 percent, moving the national average to $17.13 per hour, according to NACE. “That reflects an understanding that interns may need more money than they did before,” said Carolyn Wise, senior education editor for Vault Inc, career information provider and publisher of The Vault Guide to Top Internships. Students taking unpaid internships are encouraged to ask for help, Wise said. “Sometimes companies will work with you to ease the financial burden. There are also a number of colleges that offer summer fellowships to cover internship expenses,” she said. While internships remain important even in a time of financial hardship and job scarcity, students are asked to balance humility with a sense of self-worth. “Students have to show a willingness to work hard,” Childers said. “But at the same time, they need to be valued, and if employers can pay them, then they should.”
Finally, students get good news about student loans Income-Based Repayment of federal student loans announced by Department of Education BY AMIR KURTOVIC News Editor
Rising tuition. Severe recession. Weak job market. Those are not headlines college students, especially those facing a mountain of debt upon graduation, want to see. But with the introduction of Income-Based Repayment (IBR), bigger Pell Grants and lower Stafford interest rates, that mountain will be a little easier to climb. The Department of Education announced IBR July 1, 2009. IBR is a new way of repaying federal student loans that bases monthly payments on the income and family size of the borrower. IBR, according to the department, will lead to lower monthly payments. Private student loans, however, do not qualify for IBR. The Department of Education also increased the maximum award available for the Pell Grant program, a need-based grant awarded to lowincome students. Students will be eligible for a maximum of $5,350 in the 2009-2010 award year, more than 12 percent higher than the $4,731 maximum for the 2008-2009 award year. Also on July 1, 2009, the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans dropped to 5.6 percent from 6 percent. This will mean additional savings for borrowers of federal loans. “We know many graduates are concerned about their ability to repay student loans in the current economic environment,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a statement. “This new plan addresses the issue head on by giving them the option of a monthly
payment tied to their income.” Borrowers in the IBR program will have their remaining debt forgiven if it is not paid off after 25 years. The debt forgiveness is even better for employees in the public sector. People working for the government, a non-profit organization or as teachers can qualify to have their debt forgiven after 10 years. “The hope is that Income-Based Repayment will provide assurance and peace of mind for people who want to go into public service,” said Edie Irons, communications director for The Project on Student Debt. The Project on Student Debt has created a Web site for those seeking more information on IBR. The Web site, www.ibrinfo.org, has a IBR calculator which can be used to get an estimated monthly payment under the program. For example, with $30,000 in federal loan debt and a 6.8 percent interest rate, a single person with no dependents and an annual income of $30,000 would have to pay $170 per month, according to the IBR calculator. Without IBR, that borrower would have a monthly payment of over $300. According to an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data by the College Board, 69 percent of graduates from private four-year colleges in 2007-2008 had federal loan debt and 42 percent had private loan debt. The data also shows that 60 percents of graduates from private four-year colleges had $20,000 or more in debt, while 22 percent graduated with $40,000 or more in debt. Contact the writer:
Number of new students on rise Changes in admissions process help increase enrollment BY AMIR KURTOVIC News Editor
Preliminary enrollment figures, released to Webster University faculty last week, show that enrollment of new fulltime undergraduate students is up this year, but also reveal that WU has improvements to make in student retention. The preliminary report on enrollment, dated Aug. 14, states that WU has a total of 751 new full-time undergraduate students; 474 freshmen and 277 transfer students. The fall 2009 freshmen enrollment number is up 87 from the 2008 total of 390. This year’s increase in freshmen students, however, is only a minor success. In 2008, WU saw a sharp drop in freshmen enrollment. It was down 117 from the 2007 total of 497, according to WU’s “The 20|20 Vision”, a strategic plan of goals the university hopes to achieve between the 2009 and 2014 school years. The goal for 2008 was 516 fulltime freshmen students, according to the strategic plan. WU responded to the low fall 2008 enrollment numbers by hiring an outside consulting agency, Hardwick-Day, which specializes in college admissions and financial aid. A lot of changes have been made to WU’s enrollment process since then, according to Dean of Admissions Matt Nolan. “We moved freshmen registration up a month, to mid-April,” Nolan said. Completing the registration process early gives students a sense of closure and makes it less likely for them to make last-minute decisions about going to college, Nolan said. The enrollment process for 2009 included personal letters from Chancellor Neil George, financial aid seminars, and phone calls from deans. “It takes an academic village to recruit a student,” Nolan said. WU is also trying to improve freshmen retention, a measure of how many freshmen students from the previous school year enrolled for classes. “As of Aug. 6, 2009, 83 out of the 412 freshmen who were enrolled in fall 2008 were not yet registered for fall 2009,” states a preliminary retention report, dated Aug. 19. “This represents a projected retention rate of 79.8 percent, two points higher than the retention rate for the Fall 2007 freshmen (76.9 percent).” WU would like to see its retention rate increase to 86 percent, according to the strategic plan.
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where to park, where not to park, how much a parking pass costs, if there are more parking passes than spots, and how hard it is to find parking. The panel responded by repeatedly telling students not to come to campus minutes before class expecting to find a convenient parking spot. Students were told that they can almost always find a spot in the garage. “I have several friends that go to UMSL and they have to take buses to get to their class,” said Penberthy about the frequent complaint that the garage is too far away. “So, we’re actually very fortunate that we have such a nice facility that is as close to all the different class buildings that we have.” Violett said more parking passes are sold than there are parking spots on campus. “I’ve never had a situation where every single spot on campus is filled,” Violett said. She went on to explain that because there are different student populations, some only taking day classes and some night classes, students should always be able to find a place to park.