“Congratulations, you have been selected for a summer internship.”
For many UF students, spring is a waiting game as they patiently — and often impatiently — wait to hear these nine words.
But after some students get that phone call or email and finalize their plans to intern during the summer, they start to worry about their wallets. Summer internships, while offering professional experience, can be expensive.
Many are unpaid positions, and some require students to get course credit for the internship. But students who depend on scholarships to pay for their tuition and fees during the school year can be left empty-handed during the summer when scholarship funds like Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program don’t offer financial aid.
While students may need to shell out money to pay for rent, food, transportation and other necessities during a summer internship, some financial options can help ease the burden on their bank accounts.
For students receiving course credit for an internship, federal loans like the Federal Direct Loan are available to help cover immediate costs of the summer, giving students time to pay off the loans at a later date, said Rick Wilder, associate director of UF Student Financial Affairs.
Students can also check the UF departments for their respective fields to see if they offer any scholarship funds for the summer that can be used for internships, he said.
There is substantially less financial aid available during the summer, Wilder said, so some students may want to consider doing an internship in the fall or spring when they have more funding options.
Scholarships are also available from various organizations, including Gator Clubs, which are UF Alumni Association affiliates based throughout the world.
For example, the Washington DC Gator Club, or DC Gators, offers a scholarship specifically for UF students interning in the D.C. metro area, including Washington, D.C., northern Virginia and Maryland, according to the DC Gators website.
This year, the club is offering two $1,500 scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who have internships in 2011, whether in the spring, summer or fall, club member Tyler Moulton said.
The club awards scholarships based on students’ academics, commitment to philanthropy and professional promise, he said. The deadline is April 30.
While many Gator Clubs offer scholarships, some help students pay for the costs of attending UF rather than internship costs. But the DC Gators have many UF students interning in the area and knew this scholarship fund could help ease the financial strain of the internship process, he said.
“The overwhelming majority [of students] have little or no compensation for internships,” Moulton said. “I actually haven’t seen an application that wasn’t deserving of some help.”
