Academic Internships
What is an Internship?
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.
Academic internships may be paid or unpaid in accordance with the US Department of Labor’s six criteria. The Career Development Center strongly encourages for-profit internship sites to offer students compensation whenever possible in the form of pay, stipend, travel reimbursement, or housing expenses for a summer program. Please refer to the NACE Position Statement on Compensation for Internships for additional details. Credit-bearing internships are supervised both within the work setting and by a Purchase College faculty member who is knowledgeable in a discipline related to the internship.
Student Guidelines
View resources and guidelines for completing an internship for academic credit. To learn how to complete an on-line Learning Contract to register your internship for credit, please view our guide.
Site Supervisor Guidelines
Learn the process for sponsoring a Purchase College student for a credit bearing internship.
Internship Registration
The deadline to register for spring 2020 internships has passed. Please check back soon for summer/fall registration information.
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 begin by mid semester. Please check back in September for the fall 2020 dates.
On-Campus Internships
Purchase College offers a variety of credit-bearing internship opportunities right here on campus. Learn more about these opportunities here.
Internship Travel Grant
Participating in a credit-bearing internship?
You may be eligible for a travel grant for up to $300 to cover commuting costs to and from your internship sponsored by the Purchase College Association.
Spring 2020 Interns, the Travel Grant Application will be open until March 13th. There will be two application reviews - one in February and one in March. Please apply as soon as you are registered for the internship.
Proper documentation is required. Start saving your travel expense receipts when the internship starts as they will be needed for your reimbursement.