CSB awarded $150,000 for paid internship program

The College of Saint Benedict (CSB) was recently awarded a $149,133 grant through the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation to help create more paid internship opportunities for junior level College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University students.

The grant will support a total of 33 paid internship positions at CSB and SJU. The award money will be divided into five part time paid internships in the spring of 2015, and 28 full time paid internships in the summer of 2015. The program creates 23 new paid internships and will convert 10 existing unpaid internships to paid internships.

Current juniors who are required to complete an internship to graduate with demonstrated financial need as calculated by the Financial Aid Office at CSB and SJU can be considered for a paid internship supported by this grant. Experiential Learning and Community Engagement project lead Laura Hammond says the fund was set up to help level the playing field for students required to complete an internship to graduate who couldn't financially consider an unpaid internship.

CSB was among 40 colleges and universities to receive a Great Lakes Career Ready Internship Grant. The grant aims to give students the chance to gain a competitive edge in the job market through paid internship experiences.  The External Grants Office at CSB helped work to apply for the funding.

Great Lakes piloted a $2.5 million fund last academic year for Wisconsin colleges and found that 98 percent of paid interns either re-enrolled the next semester or graduated.  Since then, it has expanded its grant program to four states and gifted a total of $5.2 million for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Schools receiving the grants will work with non-profit organizations and local businesses to develop paid internship opportunities.