Colleges Make Way for Internships

Nicholas Roybal, a 20-year-old theater major at Connecticut College, spent last summer at home in Los Angeles, sharing a one-bedroom apartment and a car with his mother, a legal secretary. Without his own car, he said, it was hard to find work, and he could not afford to live elsewhere.

But this summer has shaped up differently. He has a summer internship in New York with an Off Broadway theater group, the Culture Project, and is working as an assistant stage manager for one of its shows. The internship is unpaid, but Mr. Roybal could afford to take it because Connecticut College gave him a $3,000 stipend as part of its summer program subsidizing internships for juniors. If not for the stipend, he said, he would be waiting tables at home.

“It would have been impossible to participate in internships in New York City in the arts and in theater, where most of the internships are unpaid, if you don’t have money,” said Mr. Roybal, whose $45,000 tuition is almost entirely covered by financial aid.

By JENNIFER 8. LEE

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/nyregion/19interns.html?_r=1&oref=slogin