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Career Development: Internship Support
La Follette internship support encourages students to strengthen their career preparedness and broaden their placement opportunities by actively seeking rewarding and prestigious internships in federal government agencies, international organizations, or national offices of non-governmental organizations, when these internships offer little or no salary compensation. The stipend is intended to defray some part of the higher costs of investing in these sorts of internship experiences in Washington, D.C., New York City, other major centers in the United States, and foreign countries. Internship support is limited in number. Students should invest in the most suitable internship experiences to advance their career goals, even if they are not selected for internship support.
Tuition Fees and Stipend
Students with approved summer internships can earn academic credits by registering for PA 827 Administrative Internship for two or three credits in a summer session. Internship support for PA 827 includes a small stipend. Interns receiving no salary compensation are guaranteed a minimum stipend of $2,000 for the summer internship; those earning some salary compensation receive the difference between that compensation and $2,000. Depending on availability of funds, stipends may be augmented, but successful intern applicants must not condition internship acceptance on an augmented stipend. Whether the stipend is augmented above $2,000 and by how much may not be known until late May. In normal circumstances, stipends are paid before July 1.
Eligibility
Students are eligible for internship support in the summer between their first and second years of study in the MPA or MIPA program. In evaluating applications for internship awards, the Summer Internship Committee, which includes the associate director and career development coordinator, takes into account academic performance and career development focus. The latter is evidenced by timely submission, careful resume preparation, suitable cover letters, and strong internship search effort. Stipends are awarded to students, not internships, but not all internships are eligible for financial support. Students are encouraged to apply widely for suitable internships, but the Summer Internship Stipend application should list only those internships consistent with the purpose of internship support, described above. If successful applicants ultimately choose to accept an internship outside that scope or one that is too highly compensated to be eligible for internship support, support will be reallocated to internship alternates. To be eligible for internship support, students must work full time for an internship term of at least eight weeks and register for at least 2 credits with PA 827. Students should be aware that many agencies prefer interns to work for a longer term, often ten weeks.
Application Procedures
Some of the most interesting and competitive summer internships have application deadlines in November. We encourage students to actively search and conscientiously prepare applications for internships. The first deadline for Summer Internship Stipend applications will be sometime around the end of March. After this date, applications are accepted, considered, and awarded on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted. Internship applicants may also be listed as alternates. Summer internship stipend applications are available at the Career Development Office, and applicants are encouraged to discuss their application with the career development coordinator before submitting it.