College students, facing a national unemployment rate is 10.4 percent, are now often willing to go without pay in return for career experience—even when filling jobs salaried staffers used to hold.

As companies try to cut costs they’re increasingly relying on unpaid internships. Nearly 60 percent of University of Southern California students, for example, hold an internship at some point during their college tenure.

“The feedback we are getting from employers is that having work experience is more important than grade-point average,” said USC Career Planning & Placement Center Executive Director Eileen Kohan.

However, unpaid internships are not as viable for students already struggling to afford college. As unpaid internships become more commonplace, some--most prominently the New York Times are questioning whether or not companies are taking advantage of their interns.

Kerry Fields, a professor at the Marshall School of Business and an expert in business ethics and corporate responsibility, believes companies should be training interns for the future, and not having them take over the duties of paid employees.

“Where unscrupulous employers take advantage is having you do work activities that have a benefit primarily to them,” Fields said. “Having you file papers so the employer saves costs of hiring a file clerk is illegal.”

In return for free work, companies often require that students receive academic credit, though it’s not legally required. While the credit makes it seem more beneficial to the student, schools usually require payment for the extra credits. USC, for example, charges $1,300 per credit, though students can get the credits cheaper through community colleges and then transfer the credits to their own school.

Many students don’t sign up to receive academic credit for their free work, including senior Liz Trawick, who is majoring in psychology and working as an unpaid intern for a city councilman.

“I’m doing a lot of work, but the city has no money, so that’s probably why I’m not getting paid,” Trawick said. “As a student, it’s reasonable not to be paid, but not being a student and not finding anything paid is unreasonable.”

Some students think an internship is not about making money but gaining experience.

“It’s not as much about getting paid as it is about learning, because the pay is really just a bonus,” said sophomore business major Kyle Manis, who held a paid internship with Verizon and is now looking at an unpaid Congressional internship. 

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