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Internships and Cooperative Education

Internships and Cooperative Education (Co-op)

At the University of Dayton, practical work experience as an undergraduate is viewed as an important part of our students’ education. We welcome the opportunity to partner with our employers who are interested in posting practical work experience positions that take place throughout the year, either on a full-time or part-time basis.

Internships

At the University of Dayton, an internship is a part-time, preferably paid position during the school year (and/or full-time, preferably paid, during the summer months). An internship may be part of an educational program that is for credit and supervised by an academic unit, for transcripted, non-credit and supervised by Career Services, or part of a learning plan that the student develops for himself/herself. Each academic unit sets their own pre-conditions and requirements but, generally students must have completed 45 semester hours of study to participate.

Full-Time Internship
Fall & Spring Semesters

Student works 40 hours per week and does not register for classes during the semester.

Student is required to notify the university and contact his/her academic department or Career Services to be registered and maintain full-time student status on campus.

Student must register as an intern for the semester, complete required documents, obtain an employer evaluation at the end of the experience and submit a report about his/her internship.

Summer Semester

Student works 40 hours per week and does not register for classes during the semester.

Student is not required to notify the university to maintain full-time status, but may need to contact academic department if seeking credit.

Part-Time Internship
Fall & Spring Semesters

Student works under 40 hours per week, generally 15-20 hours, while also taking classes on campus.

Student is not required to notify the university to maintain full-time status, but may need to contact academic department if seeking credit.

Summer Semester

Student works under 40 hours per week, sometimes also taking classes on campus.

Student is not required to notify the university to maintain full-time status, but may need to contact academic department if seeking credit.

Cooperative Education

A co-op is a work experience related to a student’s major that occurs over multiple semesters, usually rotating a semester of classes with a semester of work with the same employer for a minimum of three semesters. The student requirements are the same as those for a full-time internship experience.

Contact the School of Engineering Cooperative Education office to learn more about the process for hiring Engineering students, including engineering co-op interview days held in October and February. 

Contact Liz Seager, Associate Director for Career Advising and Experiential Education, for Business, Arts and Sciences students.

Compensation

Paid Experiences
UD Career Services strongly encourages employers to offer paid experiences for students, although compensation for students during a work experience is at the discretion of the employer. Not sure how much you should pay students during the internship? We encourage you to view our Career Services Statistics average salaries for our graduates by major. Or contact our office for information from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) regarding recent survey results about Average Salaries for Interns. We also recommend searching for similar internship job descriptions in your geographic area, through sites such as Indeed or Glassdoor, as this will provide a range of competitive salaries. 

Unpaid Experiences
UD Career Services follows the guidelines and principles of the NACE regarding the posting of unpaid internship positions. Employers are strongly encouraged to review the resources below for more information and guidelines:
NACE's Position Statement on Unpaid Internships
United States Department of Labor

Credit as Compensation?
Employers who intend to require students to seek academic credit from the University instead of paying them during the internship experience are strongly encouraged to discuss this with the candidate prior to hiring him/her. Not all academic departments award credit for internships and students are required to pay the University per credit hour awarded. If participation in an official university program is a condition of employment, students may register for a zero-credit hour internship course that is transcripted and has academic requirements. For many students this is an expensive and unexpected cost, especially if the student does not need the credit hours to satisfy academic requirements (only to satisfy the employer’s requirement). For more information, please review the resources above regarding unpaid internships or contact UD Career Services. 

CONTACT

Career Services

Alumni House
208 L Street
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 2711
937-229-2045
Email