Thank you for your interest in partnering with Anne Arundel Community College to provide AACC students with internship opportunities.

An internship requires mentoring a student and it can contribute to the productivity of your staff.

The template below will help you to prepare an Internship Proposal. Many employers find it helpful to review the listing of AACC’s majors/areas of study in order to assess the knowledge and skill levels of AACC students. We recommend that an Internship Proposal focuses on one area of study at a time. 

Please note, internship requirements vary with each academic department. After submitting an Internship Proposal, allow three business days for all proposals to be reviewed.

Internship Proposal

The following information should be considered when drafting an internship proposal. Completed proposals should be emailed to [email protected].

COMMUNITY PARTNER 

• Type of business
• Organization’s name
• Description/mission
• Website

CONTACT PERSON

• Full name
• Title
• Email
• Phone
• Address

INTERNSHIP POSITION INFORMATION 

•  Internship position type (co-op/full-time/part-time/seasonal/temporary)
•  Internship expected to be completed: on-site or remotely/virtually
•  Internship position title
•  Internship area of study
•  What type of internship is this (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, general or other)? If other, be sure to specify.
•  What is your application process and required documents (résumé, cover letter, portfolio, transcript, etc.)?
•  What is your mentorship plan? What will mentoring look like?
•  Who will mentor the student during the internship?
•  What duties will the intern perform?
•  Qualifications
•  Posting date for position
•  Expiration date for posting
•  Is this an annually recurring internship?
•  Location (address)
•  Salary level:
•  Type of compensation (stipend, hourly, transportation)
•  Desired start date
•  Duration of internship (how many hours to be completed for the internship)
•  Approximate hours per week for the internship
•  Desired major(s) for this internship
•  Desired work authorization (for international students)
•  Minimum GPA required to apply

For on-site internships: Provide a copy of your company/organization’s procedures and guidelines for mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus or germs to ensure the safety of the student intern.

Legal Issues Concerning Internships

The Employment Process: Interview, Selection and Hiring

• Advertisement/selection for position must follow equal employment/nondiscrimination rules.
• Employers may be required to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities to enable participation in student employment programs.

Harassment

• Sexual, age, ethnic, racial or disability harassment of student workers is illegal.
• The employer must ensure that regular employees do not harass student workers.
• If the Cooperative Education Coordinator is notified, the Coordinator should contact the employer to discuss the situation and seek a resolution.
• Students must be advised that harassment of others in the workplace based upon race, ethnicity, age, disability or sex is unacceptable and may result in their dismissal from the program.

Wages

Paid versus Unpaid Internships: This is dictated by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

(Note: Section to be completed by employers only.)

The U.S Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division provides the following information to help determine whether interns and students working for “for-profit” employers are entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Courts have used the “primary beneficiary test” to whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under FLSA. Courts have identified the following seven factors as part of the test (updated January 2018):

• The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee – and vice versa.
• The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
• The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
• The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
• The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
• The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
• The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.

Courts have described the “primary beneficiary test” as a flexible test, and no single factor is determinative.  Accordingly, whether an intern or student is an employee under the FLSA necessarily depends on the unique circumstances of each case.  
 
If analysis of these circumstances reveals that an intern or student is actually an employee, then he or she is entitled to both minimum wage and overtime pay under the FLSA. On the other hand, if the analysis confirms that the intern or student is not an employee, then he or she is not entitled to either minimum wage or overtime pay under the FLSA.

For more information, visit the Wage and Hour Division website, review the document for up to date hourly wage information and/or call the toll-free information and helpline, 866-4USWAGE (866-487-9243).

Unemployment Compensation 

Student workers are generally not entitled to unemployment compensation after completion of a student employment work experience due to the temporary nature of the assignment.

Worker’s Compensation

• This form of protection for injury arising from the workplace is not limited to a conventional “employee.”

• A participating employer organization is often able to obtain a rider to its existing Worker’s Compensation policy through its underwriter to cover volunteers.

• If the student is paid in an employment capacity by the sponsoring organization, then the student should be covered by the organization’s Worker’s Compensation policy.

Source: Cooperative Education Association Inc., Cooperative Education Employment A Legal Issues Briefing