By Alisha Bazemore, Ed.D. and Courtney Hagan 

Virginia's "Big Goal" is for every student enrolled in a two-year and four-year institution of higher education to participate in at least one paid internship or work-based learning (WBL) experience before post-secondary graduation. This ambitious goal is an effort to enhance student employability while strengthening the Commonwealth’s talent pipeline and keeping graduates in Virginia. 

Internships have long been recognized as impactful to students’ skills, career and education. Students who participate in a paid internship are more likely to have higher wages post-graduation, receive more interview call-backs and report higher career satisfaction compared to students who did not participate in an internship (Strada, 2023). Additionally, students can use the opportunity of an internship to explore career pathways to determine the right one for them.

Barriers and Reality

While internships are highly beneficial, many students report barriers that keep them from participating in such opportunities. Those barriers include needing to maintain existing job(s), insufficient pay, time constraints, course load and difficulty finding an internship. In addition, Strada reports that access to paid internships is not evenhanded. Black and Latino students, women, low-income individuals and first-generation students are less likely to secure a paid internship. These disparities persist even when considering differences between academic majors.

First-generation and Federal Pell Grant recipients also were less likely to have held a paid internship compared to continuing generation or those who did not receive Pell grants.

Source: Strada analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics

Outside of facing the barriers mentioned above, the reality is that a limited number of internships are available for students. In 2023, less than half of the students who wanted to participate in an internship had the opportunity to do so, according to the Business-Higher Education forum.

We see similar competition in Virginia. According to the Virginia Office of Education Economics (VOEE), only 15,098 internship job postings in Virginia were listed during the 2024-25 academic year. As a result, there’s a shortage of available internships for the over 542,000 enrolled students in Virginia.

Not surprisingly, the demand for available internship positions is growing. In the latest Handshake report, nationally the average number of applications per internship doubled from 2023 to 2025. In Virginia, we’ve heard similar experiences from employers. One Harrisonburg business receives more than 35 applications per internship posting and a Northern Virginia business receives an astounding 700 applications per internship posting.

Note: This information was provided by the Virginia Office of Education Economics (VOEE).

Addressing the Barriers: Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) has been working with partners through the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP) to increase the number of available quality internships and prepare students for work-based learning opportunities.

We have accomplished this by:

• Providing more than $4.5 million in grants to public and private institutions to enhance internship and work-based learning opportunities for students and employers.
• Providing training for faculty, staff and employers, and free, self-paced courses on career readiness and internship preparation for students.
• Offering a 50% wage match and subsidy for small to midsize employers (150 or fewer employees) who offered internships to students in Virginia. Over 300 employers participated in the matching grants program, resulting in the recruitment of more than 220 student-interns.
• Coordinating with V-TOP regional collaboratives to host internship and career-focused events connecting employers and students.
• Hosting an education session on work-based learning that brought in national experts to discuss trends and new approaches to increase the number of available internships.

Going Beyond Tradition: Expanding Work-Based Learning Definitions

While the number of quality internships in Virginia is growing, the demand continues to outpace the supply. With limited opportunities, multiple barriers and increasing competition for traditional internships, the Commonwealth and its employers need to redefine work-based learning and expand the types of experiences available to students.

Project-based learning and micro-internships are two options that allow students to apply classroom learning to the workplace.

Project-based learning activities, with a focus on real-world, employer-identified problems, help build students’ skills and career readiness to enter the workforce (Kumar & Revathy, 2023). Research indicates that project-based learning is a valuable resume builder for students and promotes employer recommendations (Harvard Business Impact).

Micro-internships are short-term, paid, professional assignments. Like a traditional internship, micro-internships expose students to the workplace and allow them to gain real-world experience (Parker Dewey).

Due to the shorter nature of the micro-internship, this opportunity could help mitigate the barriers of time or finances for many students. More than 80% of talent participating in micro-internships are from underrepresented backgrounds (Parker Dewey).  Also, micro-internships can give students an applied-learning experience if they are unable to find or acquire a traditional internship.

By offering a variety of work-based learning formats, students gain valuable experiences despite availability, schedule limitations and financial barriers.

A Call to Action: Meeting the Needs of Today’s Students

Paid internships are the "gold standard," so the Commonwealth must expand these opportunities and be intentional in closing gaps to improve access for underrepresented, first-generation and underserved students. At the same time, we must offer a variety of opportunities such as hybrid, remote, paid and short-term experiences, to ensure participation is attainable for all students

Virginia has the opportunity to set a standard by ensuring every student participates in a paid internship or work-based learning activity. Although the goal may seem audacious, a committed effort by policymakers, workforce leaders, institutions of higher education and employers will enable us to meet the needs of our students while strengthening Virginia’s workforce.