With the recent downturn in the economy the tuition costs have risen. At first it might seem odd that as money gets tighter educational institutions would raise their costs but due to the decreased funding from external sources they are forced to raise their tuition fees by necessity. The burden this puts on the average student can be a heavy one. Getting an internship is an excellent way to relieve the pressures that being short on cash puts on a student. Whether the internship runs concurrently with classes or the student obtains one of the many summer internship jobs that are offered and rations those earnings out over the school semester the extra money goes a long way in making life easier.
Employers as well benefit from internship jobs as they are forced to find ways to staff their businesses with strained budgets. There are critical roles to be filled that unfortunately can not be budgeted for a full time employee and internships make an excellent option. The savings a business can realize from an intern are too large to ignore and while in most cases it would be preferable to employ a full time staffer the fiscal realities preclude that option. Filling a niche role with an intern may not be as attractive as the ability to fill a more robust position with a more dedicated resource but in these lean times having the option of employing an intern is better than having no option at all.
For students though the real reward in internships goes far beyond the immediate cash rewards realized at the moment. The true reward is the experience gained in the course of earning that money. Even temporary summer intern jobs carry long lasting benefits that will be carried beyond college and into the real world. The weight of being an intern pulls a lot of influence when an applicant comes straight out of college and even longer than that for given situations.
In a climate where unemployment is higher than most college graduates have ever seen in their entire lifespan the importance of gaining that edge which an internship can give you is undeniable. Most employers would rather see an internship than straight A's from an employee because an internship shows that an applicant is able to balance life priorities where the 4.0 merely shows that an individual can focus on a given task within a set framework that may not carry over into life beyond college.
Most prospective employers see internship employment as a sign that someone has already made a good deal of the transition from college to real life happen. A favorable review from a prior employer who has run the same sort of operation is much more pertinent to a new employer than the same referral from an academic source. Because the education that you get within an internship is much more applicable to post-educational work than much of the theoretical or more academic lessons a prospective employer respects it much more.
