Internships for academic credit must meet the guidelines established under The U.S. Department of Labor – Wage and Hour Division, Fair Labor Standards Act – Fact Sheet #71

The School of Art encourages students to engage in internships that support and promote their educational and career growth. To receive academic credit the internship position must meet one of the following criteria regarding compensation:

1. Students are working for a for-profit company and are paid for their efforts, in which case those students may participate in and contribute to the work of the company.
2. Students are working in a volunteer capacity for the public sector or a non-profit organization and are not paid for their efforts, in which case those students may participate in and contribute to the work of the company
3. Students are working for a for-profit company and are not paid, but whose internship role is largely observational and training-oriented, for which the internship mentor or host company derives no substantive material benefit from the efforts of the intern, and which are consistent with the guidelines established by the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division including all of the following:

• The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
• The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
• The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
• The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
• The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship;
• The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

You are responsible for securing your internship position. Once you have been offered a position you will need to provide the mentor of your internship with the School of Art’s policy for receiving academic credit, and ask that mentor to email the assigned instructor for the course with a confirmation that your internship aligns with the policy. Also have that person send how many hours you will be working in your position. Once the instructor receives the email from your mentor, then you will be cleared to register for the internship class. The class is variable credit, so you need to make sure you enroll for the appropriate amount of hours when you are registering (based upon the number of hours you are working in your internship position).

Here is a sample of the email that the instructor needs from your mentor: I am emailing to confirm that [student’s name] will be an intern with [name of business or individual] for the [spring or fall or summer] semester, and will work for [#] hours over the duration of the semester. I have reviewed the School of Art’s internship policy and confirm that this internship position fulfills the requirements of the policy.

Students must sign up for an internship course during the time that they are doing the internship in order to receive credit. Credit may not be given retroactively. 

Students can include no more than 3 hours of credit in their program of study for internship positions. To receive credit, students must keep a record of the hours worked in a qualified internship position, and the internship host must verify those hours. Students must fulfill the minimum required hours to receive academic credit.

ARST4930 is a variable credit course requiring the following hour minimums for credit:

• 1 credit hour represents at least 3 hours of work each week for a period of 15 weeks.
• 1 credit hour = 1x3x15 = 45 hours of internship work
• 2 credit hours = 2x3x15 = 90 hours of internship work
• 3 credit hours = 3x3x15 = 135 hours of internship work

ARID 4010 is a 3-credit hour course and requires a minimum of 320 hours working in an approved interior design-related firm.

ARGD 3080 is a 3-credit hour course and requires a minimum of 135 hours working in a graphic design-related position approved by area faculty.

Please refer to the schedule of classes to identify the assigned instructor for the course as the point of contact. 

Students who are enrolled in 5 hours or less in a single semester or have all of their courses occurring off campus will have a portion of their student fees waived for that semester. In those cases, students will only be required to pay the mandatory fees including the Green Fee, the Technology Fee, 50% of the Special Institutional Fee, and the ConnectUGA Fee. (Find this and more information on the UGA Bursar’s site).

ARST4930, ARGD308 and ARID 4010 will serve as the only studio art courses providing credit for internships. ARST4930 will be offered every semester of the academic year with no class size limit but will require a POD (Permission of Department) for registration. A faculty member will be assigned as instructor of the class each semester.

It is understood that students may also secure internships on their own with no expectation of academic credit and for which the School of Art has no responsibility.