Career Development Center

The SUNY Purchase Internship Program at the Career Development Center provides students with opportunities to obtain academic (credit-bearing) as well as non-credit internships with local and regional employers. As a high impact educational opportunity, the internship program allows students to gain knowledge and experience, learn in a “real world” environment, explore a chosen profession, and achieve academic credit for their experience.

Employers often seek out talented, motivated, and skilled Purchase student interns as a way of supporting their organizations’ project needs, while providing undergraduates experience in their industry of interest.

1. Provide a meaningful learning experience for your intern
   Internships are expected to provide educational, hands-on, learning experiences where students gain an opportunity to learn and develop relevant competencies and skills. The intern should receive appropriate training, supervision, and on-going support for their experience. Projects assigned should be learning based, as supervisors provide clear expectations for the intended learning outcomes and competencies that the student will gain.
2. Provide Supervision
   Interns benefit from your knowledge, guidance, and mentoring as they learn new skills and contribute to your organization. Your role is to serve as both a supervisor and an educator.
3. Review and approve the on-line Internship Learning Contract
   Internship Supervisors must review and approve their part of the online Internship Learning Contract in order for the student to register their internship with the college for academic credit. Internship Supervisors will receive the email “SUNY Purchase Student Internship Approval Needed” to access the online Learning Contract without having to log into Purchase JobScore. Internship sponsors will also include a description of the internship, that addresses the training provided and learning outcomes and select the expected competencies gained.
4. Complete the online Evaluation
   Near the end of an academic internship, Internship Supervisors receive directions on completing an online evaluation for their interns (including a direct link to the evaluation form) which must be completed in order for the intern to receive academic credit for their experience. (See Procedures and Deadlines bellow.)

Please Note: The number of credits awarded for internships are based on how many hours students spend at their internship site over a semester. The maximum credits for any one internship is 4. (view the minimum hour/credit requirements). To assist students and internship sponsors with tracking hours, students can maintain a time sheet throughout the semester.

Internship opportunities can be listed on our free on-line job and internship system – Purchase JobScore. To access the system, simply visit our Employer Services page and select “Create your employer account” in order to create your account on the system. You may then post a description of your internship for students to review.

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 not possible to do so, 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.  

Please note that academic credit is not a form of compensation for an internship from employers; students pay tuition for internship credit for both paid and unpaid internships.

Please note that while all members of a staff, including interns, may be asked to complete a variety of tasks, the majority of the interns’ assignments must be learning based. Primarily, an internship (whether paid or unpaid) differs from a job because the student’s learning is the central focus of the experience.

After you post your internship on Purchase JobScore, interview and select your intern, please be aware of the following deadlines:

Internship Contract Deadline:
Prior to the start of the internship - Complete/approve the Internship Learning Contract form online and include or attach a description of the student’s internship including what the student will learn and the type of training that will be provided. Learning Contracts must be completed by the academic registration deadline.

Deadline: Exact dates vary each semester, it is the intern’s responsibility to submit their contract before the end of the Add/Drop Registration period. View current registration deadlines on the academic calendar.

Evaluation Form Deadline:
Several weeks before the end of the internship, Internship Supervisors receive directions on completing a performance evaluation; the qualitative measures on this form comprise a part of the intern’s grade for their internship experience. This form needs to be completed before the end of the academic semester in order for interns to receive a grade (and credit) for their experience.  The deadline for completion will be included in the email.

Occasionally issues arise about expectations regarding an intern or internship experience. Please contact our office at 914-251-6370 should you have any questions. Any issues relating to an intern may be directed to Jeffrey Arroyo
Assistant Director of Experiential Education at jeffrey.arroyo@purchase.edu.