How to Get Paid for an Internship (Even One Listed as Unpaid)

Getting paid for an internship used to mean landing one at a big company and hoping. It's a lot more doable than that now, and there are more ways to get paid than most of us were ever told, including for internships that are listed as unpaid.

Here's how to do it.

First, what "paid" usually means

The most recent big benchmark comes from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Its 2025 Guide to Compensation for Interns & Co-ops put the average hourly wage for bachelor's-level interns at $23.04, based on what employers paid in summer 2024. (NACE)

To make that concrete: a 10-week, 40-hour-a-week summer at $23.04 an hour works out to about $9,200 before taxes. That's real money. It's also an average across employers who answered NACE's survey, so plenty of roles pay well above or below it.

NACE also found that, adjusted for inflation, intern pay was down 1.1% from 2015 to 2024. The raises are smaller than they look.

1. Only look at internships that say what they pay

This is the easiest win, and it's easier than it used to be. On October 4, 2026, 31,126 of the 40,208 live internship, co-op and apprenticeship listings UTern tracked, from 5,701 employers, stated what they pay: 77%. Those listings come straight from employer career pages and hiring systems. They lean toward employers who post on their own sites, so they're not a count of every internship in the country. (UTern internship statistics)

Part of the reason is the law. Several states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, now require a pay range in the job posting. So filter for stated pay first and save your effort for roles you can actually afford to take.

You can browse only the internships that state their pay. We broke down what those numbers mean in Do Internships Pay?.

2. Apply early, because the paid programs fill first

The biggest paid summer programs open in the fall. Across 726 employers UTern tracked over several recruiting cycles, the median summer program first posted around October 14. Meanwhile only about 6% of live listings state an application deadline at all, which means most of them just close when they're full.

If you want a paid internship next summer, the time to apply is now through December, not March. The full timeline is in When to Apply for Summer Internships.

3. Know your number before they ask "salary expectations"

This question shows up on applications and in first-round calls, and it throws a lot of us off. The fix is simple: have a range ready.

1. Check the posting. If it lists a range, you already have your answer. Say you're comfortable inside it.
2. If it doesn't, look at similar roles in the same field and city that do list pay, and use those to build a range.
3. Answer in hourly terms, since that's how most internships pay.

Something like:

"Based on similar internships in this area, I'm looking for something in the $24 to $28 an hour range, but I'm flexible depending on the full package, like housing or relocation support."

Put the number you'd actually be happy with at the bottom of your range, because the conversation usually starts there. If the application form forces a single number, use the low end of that range.

4. Ask about the whole package, not just the hourly rate

Intern pay is usually set per program, so there's often less room to move the hourly rate than with a full-time offer. That's fine. A lot of the value is somewhere else:

• Housing stipend or company housing. In an expensive city, this can matter more than a couple of dollars an hour.
• Relocation or travel. Ask whether they cover the move in and out.
• Hours. $25 an hour for 40 hours a week beats $30 for 20.
• Return offer. Ask how many interns typically get one.

It's completely normal to ask about these once you're in the process. It doesn't make you look greedy. It makes you look like someone who can do math.

5. If the internship is unpaid, get your school to pay you

This is the one most people miss. A lot of colleges run internship stipend programs that pay students who take unpaid or underpaid internships. A few examples:

• Empire State University (SUNY) pays undergraduates $5,000 for completing 160 hours at an unpaid, credit-bearing internship. (Empire State University)
• The University at Albany's GAIN program funds students who've secured an unpaid internship or fieldwork, for transportation, housing, food and other costs. (University at Albany)

These programs are usually run by the career center, have limited spots and often have deadlines months before the summer starts. Search your school's career center site for "internship stipend" or "internship funding," or just email them and ask. Departments, honors programs and alumni groups sometimes fund internships too.

Federal Work-Study is the other route. If your financial aid package includes it, Work-Study can pay for off-campus community-service jobs at government agencies and certain nonprofits, and those employers must pay at least the federal minimum wage. Those jobs are also supposed to support your educational or career goals. Ask your financial aid office whether a nonprofit internship you've found can be set up as a Work-Study position. (Federal Student Aid Handbook)

One thing that is not pay: academic credit. Credit can be worth it, but it usually costs tuition rather than paying you.

6. Know when "unpaid" isn't allowed

At a for-profit company, an unpaid internship has to be primarily for your benefit, not the company's, under the Department of Labor's test. If you're doing the same work as paid staff, that's a red flag. We went through the rules in Are Unpaid Internships Legal?.

It's also worth knowing what you give up. In NACE's Class of 2015 Student Survey, 72.2% of students with paid internships at private, for-profit companies got a full-time job offer, compared with 43.9% of those with unpaid ones at the same kind of company. The data is old, but it's one of the few studies that compares the two directly. (NACE)

The short version

• Filter for internships that state pay first. Most of them do now.
• Apply in the fall, because the paid programs fill first.
• Have an hourly range ready before anyone asks.
• Ask about housing, relocation and hours, not just the rate.
• If it's unpaid, ask your career center about stipends and your aid office about Work-Study.

Where UTern fits

UTern shows pay on every listing that states it, lets you set a pay target and see how each role compares, and gets your application ready so you can apply while the paid seats are still open. UTern is free, and we never submit an application without you. Browse paid internships.