Closing the Doors of Opportunity: A Field Theoretic Analysis of the Prevalence and Nature of Obstacles to College Internships

Abstract

Background: Internships for college students can enhance their grades, skills, and employment prospects, but finding and completing an internship sometimes requires considerable resources. Consequently, before postsecondary institutions consider mandating this high-impact practice, more evidence is needed regarding the various obstacles students face as they seek an internship. Focus of Study: The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence and nature of obstacles to securing a college internship and how these factors interact in the lives of particular students. Field theory is used to highlight the ways that structural inequalities and forms of capital serve to facilitate or constrain access to an internship experience. Population: The participants in this study included students attending five postsecondary institutions—three comprehensive universities, one historically Black college and university (HBCU), and one technical college in the U.S. states of Maryland, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Research Design: This concurrent mixed-methods study included the collection of survey (n = 1,549) and focus group and interview (n = 100) data from students who self-selected into the study. Given that this is a descriptive study, the aim was to document student experiences with obstacles to internships using varied sources of data. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected via an online survey (with a 26% response rate) and in-person focus groups or interviews at each campus. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, social network analysis, and logistic regression techniques and interpreted in ways that highlight the situated and critical role of capital and structure in shaping opportunity and behavior. Findings: Among the 1,060 (69%) survey respondents who reported not having had an internship, 638 indicated that they had in fact wanted to pursue an internship but could not because of the need to work, a heavy course load, insufficient positions, and inadequate pay. The role of financial, social, and cultural capital also impacted students differentially depending on their majors, socioeconomic status, race, and geographic location, highlighting how context and enduring systemic forces—and not solely the possession of capital(s)—intersect to shape students’ abilities to pursue an internship. Conclusion: Internships are not universally accessible to all college students and instead favor students who have access to financial, social, and cultural capital while also being positioned in particular majors, geographic locations, and institutions. Before actively promoting internships for their students, colleges and universities should secure funding to support student pay and relocation costs, identify alternative forms of experiential learning for working students, and engage employers in creating more in-person and online positions for students across the disciplines.

A Multilevel, Agent-Centered Analysis of Intersectionality in a Hispanic-Serving Institution: The Case of College Internship Access for Latinx Students

“…This is a much lower figure than some national estimates of 50% of college seniors having taken an internship (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2021); the fact that just one in five TC students participated in this potentially “door-opening” (Saniter & Siedler, 2014) experience is concerning. Further, the fact that 76.9% ( n = 133) of the non-interns had actually wanted to take one but could not due to their work schedules, academic course load, lack of opportunities, and so on indicates that higher education in general and HSIs in particular have an internship accessibility problem on their hands (see also Hora, Wolfgram, & Chen, 2021).…”

“…Ultimately, with an intersectional lens, is it clear that the landscape of internships is too often one of exclusion and gatekeeping that disadvantages many college students. Scholars interested in exploring these issues in the future should consider drawing on intersectionality or other frameworks that are critical and multidimensional (e.g., field theory; see Hora, Wolfgram, & Chen, 2021), examining the ways that cultural factors within organizations (e.g., employers and postsecondary institutions) and students’ own lives influence how internships are structured and experienced, and especially the roles that race, gender, and academic major play in students’ opportunities in the internship labor market. If the field of higher education is sincere about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion along with the benefits of HIPs such as internships it will need to deal with the fact that at present, these two goals are not compatible and will require a not inconsiderable investment of time, money, and energy to rectify these long-standing inequalities.…”

“…Although analyzing qualitative data by using network analytic techniques is increasingly common in the social sciences (e.g., Pokorny et al, 2018), it has not frequently been used to study intersectionality theory. Some scholars have used network analysis to examine citation patterns in intersectionality research (Moradi et al, 2020), and in this article, we build upon prior work in this area (Ferrare & Hora, 2014; Hora, Wolfgram, & Chen, 2021) and use this approach to graphically depict and analyze qualitative data about Latinx students’ perceptions and experiences of the ways that identity, embodied practices, and structural and systemic forces affect their opportunities.…”

“…However, although many Latinx college students certainly appreciate the value of a college degree as a tool for mobility and financial stability for themselves and their families (Gándara,1995), some remain unaware of the (in)formal processes and resources needed to pursue career opportunities, such as internships (Huerta et al, 2022). Further complicating the widespread involvement of Latinx students in the internship labor market is evidence that students without ample financial means, valued social capital and networks, and institutional resources—constraints that hamper many Latinx undergraduates, who are likely to be first-generation, working, and enrolled part-time while in college (Excelencia in Education, 2019)—can experience difficulties in finding and then successfully completing internships, especially those that are unpaid and located in expensive cities (Hora, Wolfgram, & Chen, 2021; Jacobson & Shade, 2018).…”

You have to pay to play: housing costs and barriers to participation for student interns

“…The recent studies by Hora et al (2021) and Wolfgram et al (2021), provide important insight into why students face barriers when seeking internships; however, they only focus on student perceptions of these barriers. In order to understand the complete picture, we also need to assess the internship participation gap from the employer perspective.…”