Compared to students at four-year colleges and universities, community college students are less likely to participate in an internship or similar experiential learning opportunity.
Despite the well-known impact of internships on student career preparation and future employment, community college students are less likely to participate in experiential learning.
A September policy brief from the left-leaning think tank New America finds, while 70 percent of community college students work, they’re less likely to land paid internships or work in jobs related to their fields of study. A winter 2023 Student Voice survey found one-quarter of two-year students had never had an experiential learning opportunity or internship.
“Given the high share of community college students working to meet financial obligations, work-based learning should provide high enough wages, work hours, and schedule flexibility to be accessible to the many students who want to participate,” according to the policy brief.
A May 2024 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed found 45 percent of two-year students want their college to prioritize or focus on helping students find internships and job possibilities, and 36 percent want preparation for internships and career success.
To address gaps in opportunities for two-year college students, partnerships across higher education and with local employers can ensure community college learners are not left behind in their career development.
Four-year institution partners: Colleges and universities can work together to provide equitable opportunities for research and internships.
Cerritos College works alongside the University of Southern California to offer a summer research program for qualified Cerritos students. Interns work 40 hours a week in the Department of Chemistry at USC alongside a faculty member conducting research and are paid a $5,370 stipend for their participation.
Washington State University is collaborating with faculty and students at four community colleges across the state to improve tree canopy cover in urban areas. The initiative is funded by a $1.7 million federal Inflation Reduction Act grant from the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program and includes dollars for student internships on tree health and urban heat research. Researchers hope the initiative will expose community college students to a potentially unfamiliar field.
The University of California, Los Angeles, hosts a workforce development program with Pasadena City College to train students to work in the semiconductor industry. Students complete a two-week training module on lithography and a full-time, paid internship at an assigned lab for the next month. Interns have worked at UCLA’s Nanofabrication Laboratory, the UCLA Center for High Frequency Electronics, the UCLA CNSI Integrated NanoMaterials Lab and HRL Laboratories.
Community collaborators: Outside organizations can help alleviate the financial burden related to internship participation, as well.
Rockland Community College teamed up with the County of Rockland Industrial Development Agency to provide internship stipends for six students in RCC internships supporting Rockland industry, economics and business. To be selected for the internship stipends, students complete an assessment that evaluates their financial need and their overall career goals.
Students at LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York system, can participate in a 10-week summer internship with the Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) to learn more about research and gain experiential learning. HICCC leaders hope it helps build a diverse talent pipeline and provide students with experiences for economic mobility in the field of health sciences. Students between their first and second years at LGCC can participate, learning about job possibilities available as research study assistants and participating in lab research.
A partnership between Micron and Onondaga Community College, part of the State University of New York system, embeds internship experiences into curriculum of the electromechanical technology program at the college. The program hosted 11 interns this past summer at the company’s Boise, Idaho, and Manassas, Va., sites, and at least five of them were offered jobs with Micron.
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