Internships

I recently started a summer internship 2 days a week at Reebok World Headquarters in Canton. My brother's girlfriend works there and was able to give my resume to a few people. I still find it interesting how most success starts with who you know, sad but true. So when I spoke to my supervisor, she originally said the internship was unpaid but I would have to do it for college credit. Well unfortunately, since I'm taking summer classes, BSU wouldn't allow me to get credit for it, so they made an exception and I'm still able to intern there. I'm a communications media major and I'm working with their blog, events calendar, and a ton of excel, it's great for experience but it's killing my bank account. Not only is it two days off that I have to ask off work but it's an extra $40 a week in gas to get there. They say not having an internship when you graduate is one of the worst things you can do, but why do they make having one seem impossible? Most students cannot, financially afford to do an internship and not get paid or credit. Luckily this one was 2 days a week. My brother had to do an internship in order to graduate, he had to PAY the school to do an unpaid internship. It is almost mind boggling. I know we live in a competitive work market but starting out is extremely unfair.

The reason I say this has to do with media is because a LOT of other internships in other majors are paid. My sister (criminal justice major) and my other brother (mechanical engineering) both were offered paid internships in those fields. Why is it in the communications field it is extremely unlikely to get paid? Where would we be with a communications/PR/Human Resources department? Where would we be with the radio and news stations? It's not like our major is unimportant so why not show a little appreciation for what we are studying? This is just something that has frustrated me especially now that I'm doing an internship (free labor) and they can't even pay for gas. I guess we all have to bite the bullet at one time or another to get our foot in the door!