Journalism Internships: Credit, Pay, and Cost

Only some official UNH journalism internships pay. But all the internships offer invaluable experience. During your internship, you’ll gain confidence, hone your skills, and gather examples of your work to show prospective employers. In the job market, you’ll be ahead of those who haven’t done internships.

For a full-time internship, you can receive 16 credits during the school year or 12 credits during the summer. (Summer is shorter; hence the difference.) If you have compelling reasons for doing only a part-time internship, you may be able to arrange one for fewer credits, but try to go full-time if you can, just to get the full experience. Many of the best assignments on your internship are the ones you'll get just because you happen to be in the newsroom when something happens. The less often you're there, the smaller your chances of those happy accidents.

UNH requires all students doing internships in any field to pay full tuition for the credit. Certain student fees are waived if your internship is more than 75 miles from campus. Most financial aid packages apply to internships because you're still registered as a student.

To save money, do the internship for only as many credits as you need to graduate. Please make every effort to do a full-time internship so that you get the full experience (see above). But completely aside from how much you're working . . . if you really don't need 12 or 16 credits to graduate, don't pay for them. Below 12 credits, you become a part-time student, and both tuition and fees decrease. Look into this -- but if you receive financial aid, investigate whether it will still apply if you go part-time. Please remember that you will be getting paid for your work, and that the internship will pay big benefits later.

Talk with the internship director about how many credits are appropriate for the work you'll be doing, and how many you need to graduate.