Imagine walking into a job interview. You spent two hours the night before choosing the right outfit; the one that says, “I am smart and competent, please hire me so I can pay back my crippling student debt.” You settle on a sensible top in a neutral color, simple black slacks, a blazer, and a smart low heel that will lower your chances of tripping in front of you potential boss. After checking in with the receptionist with the bored smile, you take a seat next to the magazines that you page through but you can’t seem to form together the words on the page.

Your name is called. You walk in, shake hands. Questions are asked, jokes exchanged. You mention the name of the boss from your internship who happens to be friends with the man who is interviewing you. The man pauses, looks over your resume once more and says to you, “I think that you might be the perfect fit.”

It’s one week later and you get the call telling you that you got the job. It’s five years later, and you have climbed to the top of the chain, making you the youngest CEO in the company’s history. You’re at your fourth promotion party, standing at the podium giving your speech and you close with, “and I’d like to thank Mr. Pete Ganbarg for giving me a chance and letting me be his intern all those years ago.”

As of late, internships have become a phenomenon in the college world. There is debate about the fairness of unpaid internships for students who cannot afford to accept them. There is also a question of whether paid and unpaid internships yield the same, or similar end results.

I interviewed two students on their internship experiences. The first person I interviewed was a former Rutgers student named Brianna, a Supply Chain Management major in the business school. She participated in a co-op at Mars Chocolate North America. She explained the process of getting the co-op as, “meetings and phone interviews with lots of people at career fairs” to get her “foot in the door.” The application consisted of “resume and basic work experience questions. Followed by an in-person interview at Rutgers, then a phone call stating she “got the position.”

A co-op internship is a type of internship program that allows college students to gain paid career experience while they work with professionals in their major fields of study. When prompted about whether or not she was thought that internships were important in getting a job out of college, she responded saying that she thinks, “that personally doing a co-op has a great effect on getting a job out of college since companies want has much experience while hiring.” She also mentioned that working at a co-op has helped her “gain a lot of job experience that future employers will look for.” She rated her experience a nine out of ten.

According to Forbes, there is a 1.1 percent unemployment rate for those 20 to 24-years-old or people looking for a career change. Kerry, a participant of both paid and unpaid internships stated that she was “not necessarily sure.” on where she stands on the issue. She thinks that internships “make a candidate more qualified and provides one with more experience and tools to use in the work force once out of college” but is not“sure that it will be a driving factor in whether or not she gets a job.

Kerry had a paid internship working with certain departments and divisions within her township at her municipality. She told me that her duties usually consisted of answering phones, filing and organizing documents and taking notes on legislative meetings. At her unpaid internship, she worked with “veterans of the US military in ensuring their experiences in the military were well documented and preserved through the Library of Congress.”

For her paid internship, she filled out an application and was interviewed by the township administrator. For her unpaid internship she was interviewed by the curator and assistant curator and also required to submit a writing sample so they could decide whether or not she was qualified for the internship. She rated the unpaid internship a three out of ten and the paid internship a seven out of ten.

After interviewing students who have had different experiences with co-ops, paid, and unpaid internships, I decided to look more into the business opinion of internships. According to the college recruiting and research firm Intern Bridge’s ‘2010 Internship Salary Report,’ “68 percent of 25,000 interns surveyed who receive an average wage of $12.54 an hour would agree to intern for less money. Out of the top 13 reasons given to intern, ‘to earn money’ ranked seventh more highly ranked reasons include gaining experience and employment” (www.forbes.com). Students are looking for experience so that they can build a career for themselves. The fear of not finding a job after graduation tends to be worse than the possibility of not being able afford to take an unpaid internship. Experience trumps cost.

College students are under huge amounts of pressure to get a job after college. Researchers are predicting that the retirement age for Millennials’ will shoot up to the age of 75. Internships and co-op programs provide a sense of relief and hope to students who are struggling to find a place to start their career. There is such a heavy emphasis on taking internships, whether they are paid or not, that I find my friends being more stressed about finding an internship as a sophomore, junior, or senior than with whether the internship is for credit or pay.

I interviewed a Rutgers University Junior named Pam. Pam is a Food Science and French double major. She has never had an internships because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do yet and is “still figuring it out a bit.” She admits that she does want to get an internship in my field eventually. Pam believes that “having an internship can greatly increase your chance of getting a job out of college, especially if it's an internship within your field of study. Having any sort of experience prior to graduating can be a great help to your resume.”

After talking to students and looking at the facts and figures, it seems that although there are students, that cannot afford to take unpaid internships, the compensation may not affect the quality of the internship. The consensus seems to be that experience outweighs cost. If the internship is unpaid, students are still receiving college credit and learning the ropes for their field. Getting compensated is huge perk and helpful for those who need to work to support their college, but not being paid should not rule out that internship as an option.

I think this conversation was best summed up by a Senior named Julia. She remarked, “I am knee-deep in student loans, work a part-time job along with being told that I have to gain experience before I even graduate college? On top of that, to pay back my debt, I have to get a job that I’m not qualified for because I couldn’t get an internship? I am already swimming in debt, so it does not matter if the internship is paid or not at this point. All I want is a well-paying job in my field that will help pay back the debt I owe, and if juggling a part-time job with an internship that has no pay, so be it.”

Now imagine walking into an interview, you shake hands with your potential boss. You are calm, confident and ready for any questions that will come your way. You don’t drop any names, just hand him your resume. The boss looks over your accomplishments, your 3.75 grade point average, the numerous honors societies you were enrolled in, volunteer work in your field, takes a look at you and smiles. “No internship?” he asks. You explain how your resume speaks for itself and then tell him all the ways you are more than qualified for the job. You get the job two weeks later.