Living Internship Stipend
The SUNY New Paltz’s Living Internship Stipend provides support that enables students to participate in unpaid or underpaid internships, fieldwork, or curricular applied learning in public service and high-demand nonprofit sectors related to their major and/or future career goals.
The selection committee can award up to $3,000 per student. Living Internship Stipend will be awarded in two payments, one at the beginning of the semester, the second 4-6 weeks into the semester after confirmation of continued participation in your applied learning experience. Checks will be mailed to the recipient's permanent address. Checks are processed by the Office of Expenditures in Albany which may take several weeks to be processed.
This stipend will be considered taxable income by the IRS. It is the student's responsibility to determine if taxes are owed. Students should therefore consult a tax advisor regarding this stipend.
ELIGIBLE CRITERIA FOR THE LIVING INTERNSHIP STIPEND
- Currently matriculated undergraduate or graduate SUNY New Paltz student in good academic standing
- Must have completed at least 30 credit hours, with at least 12 at SUNY New Paltz
- The internship is NOT required by the applicant's major. If the internship is required, please apply for the Applied Learning Travel Grant or the CAS Internship Stipend.
- Internship is in public service and/or non-profit field*
- Internship must be unpaid
- Can be credit or non-credit bearing. If the internship is non-credit bearing, it must meet the Definition of an Internship** as defined below.
- Internship must be secured prior to application, except in the case of Early Decision approval (Early Decision processes will be available for Fall 2025 applications). No retroactive stipends will be awarded.
- The experience is related to the applicant's academic program and/or future career goals.
- The experience must be supervised by someone at the internship site and cannot be supervised by a family member.
- Supervisor must have substantial expertise and experienced in the responsibilities asked of the intern.
- Research as an experiential/applied learning opportunity does qualify for funding, if it meets internship site criteria as defined herein.
NOT FUNDABLE
The following criteria disqualify an internship from Living Internship Stipend funding:
- Does not meet the definition of an internship as defined below.
- Private research projects not hosted by a non-profit or public service entity as defined below.
- Unpaid internships in fields that are expected to have the capacity to provide a paid internship (private healthcare, private financial services, etc).
*PUBLIC SERVICE AND NON-PROFIT DEFINITION
For the intern to receive the Living Internship Stipend, the internship site must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Have 501(c)(3) non-profit designation
- Be a government or publicly funded agency (i.e. NYS Departments, Federal Agencies, etc.)
**DEFINITION OF AN INTERNSHIP
An internship is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest. A quality internship:
- Provides meaningful project-based work with clearly defined expectations.
- Structured training and on-boarding program to ensure the intern has the knowledge, skills, and familiarity with the organization.
- Provide regular supervision and feedback, offering expertise to help the student grow and learn in their field of study. Intern responsibilities should align with their educational capacity and future goals, including supervisory support to continue building these skills.
- Orients the student to the organization, its culture and proposed work assignment(s).
- Helps the student develop and achieve clearly outlined learning objectives.
For the Summer 2025 term, applications will be approved on a first come, first served basis until funding is exhausted. Applications must meet all eligibility criteria in order to be approved for funding. Please review the eligibility prior to submitting your application. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis, and students will be notified of their award no later than two weeks after submitting their application.
APPLICATIONS FOR THE SPRING 2025 WILL BE OPEN ON MONDAY, MARCH 31.
Questions regarding applications or eligibility can be directed to Meredith Hamilton, Internship Funding Coordinator, at hamiltom5@newpaltz.edu.
Awards are determined by the number of internship hours the student completes during the course of the semester.
- Less than 40 hours: ineligible for funding
- 40-79 hours: $1,000
- 80-119 hours: $2,000
- 120+ hours: $3,000
Time sheets will track completion of the student hours at the midpoint of the semester. In order to receive the second half of the award, the student needs to have completed at least half of their anticipated hours. The second payment will be stalled until the student fulfills all completion requirements as listed above.
