An internship is a career-related learning experience that provides an excellent opportunity for students to gain “real world” experience and to explore a variety of career fields. The academic internship program at Purchase College is designed to give students practical experience in their area of academic study or in other fields of interest.
Time commitments for on-site experience typically range between 3 and 10 hours per week during the course of the semester. Credit-bearing internships are supervised both within the work setting and by a Purchase College faculty member.
Academic internships may be paid or unpaid in accordance with the US Department of Labor. An internship can be both paid and for academic credit. The Career Development Center strongly encourages for-profit internship sites to offer students compensation of at least minimum wage. Non-profit organizations are also encouraged to compensate interns and if unable to offer a stipend, travel reimbursement, or housing expenses for a summer program. Please refer to the NACE Position Statement on the need for all internships to be paid and NACE’s Guide to Internships.
Internship Registration
The Spring 2026 deadline is February 3, 2026. Please check back in January for information about the 3 & 4 credit appeal period and the Short Course registration dates.
Short Course
Students can register for an Academic Internship in the fall and the spring semesters as a Short Course. These are 1 or 2 credit internships (38 - 75 hrs. total) that have an open registration period in October for the fall semester and March for the spring semester.
Student Guidelines
View resources and guidelines for completing an internship for academic credit.
Are you paying money to get to your registered unpaid internship? If so, we may have just the thing for you. The Internship Travel Reimbursement Grant. Use this link to apply for fall 2025.
Purchase Academic Internship Stipend (PAIS)
The Career Development Center is excited to announce this grant-funded stipend for those students already registered for unpaid, credit-bearing internships. Learn more about the eligibility requirements. All students applying to PAIS for the first time should have access to a Passport or Social Security Card + ID required for the I-9 form. Once awarded, you will bring it to the Career Development Center – Student Services Building, room 214. Copies and photos of documents cannot be accepted.
On-Campus Internships
Purchase College offers a variety of credit-bearing internship opportunities right here on campus.
