Stipends for students working in unpaid internships this summer are now available through the Hiatt Career Center, the University announced last Thursday. Fifty rising juniors and seniors selected by Hiatt are eligible to receive $3,500 each to cover living expenses.The $175,000 grant comes from the University President's office, Hiatt Director Joseph DuPont said. The deadline to apply for the grant is Feb. 15.

The internship may be in any field, and Hiatt counselors said they hope students will be daring and creative in their choices.

DuPont said this program should ease some of the financial barriers students face when deciding between paid and unpaid summer positions.

"There are many students who can't or feel like they can't follow their true passion because they have some real practical limitations in terms of having to raise money over the summer, and so by creating this program we're hoping to alleviate a lot of those burdens," DuPont said.

Between 60 and 70 percent of internships Brandeis students participate in are unpaid, Rusmir Music, Hiatt's assistant director of experiential programs, said. "They may sacrifice getting skills for just getting paid at a job that may not be propelling them toward their career," Music said.

For years students have expressed concern over securing internships, and counselors said this is one step among many they plan to take to address this issue.

While the application process is still being worked out, Hiatt counselors said applicants must already have an internship--which can be anywhere in the world--in place when they apply. Applicants must be able to articulate what they're looking to learn through their internship, Music said.

Like student fellows at the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, upon their return from summer, selected students will present their experiences to the Brandeis community.

Alex Wilson '08, a student advisor at Hiatt, said Hiatt is anticipating a large and competitive applicant pool.

A Hiatt committee, whose composition hasn't been decided on, will choose the winning applicants, Music said.

DuPont said recipients would be notified by mid-March.

Counselors and resources on the Hiatt Web site can help students organize their resumes, Music said, adding that a Web site would be up and running soon with further information.

"There's a great interest on the Brandeis campus for internships critically between the sophomore and the junior year so this is in response to what students on campus are really searching for and what we as career advisors know is a wonderful thing to do," Hiatt Counselor Jane Pavese said.

This grant program is only the beginning, DuPont said, as Hiatt plans to use this model to jumpstart robust job development opportunities. In the future, he said the Center will utilize the stipend to attract potential employers to hire Brandeis students over the summer.

"We think this is a very scalable model so hopefully in the future we'll have a lot of success with this and then we'll be able to use this to expand the program accordingly and give even more opportunity," he said.

DuPont said they may ask applicants about their particular financial situation, but more likely they will wait and see the makeup of this year's applicant pool, and evaluate in the future whether personal income and other factors should be taken into consideration.

Many other institutions sponsor similar stipend programs. At Smith College, 400 students were given $2,000 each last summer, according to a July 2006 New York Times article about college internships. Alumni primarily gave these grants.

"We did do some research but we basically decided this was a need that was driven by the Brandeis community so we really started there," DuPont said.

While other departments and centers like the Women's Resource Center already offer stipends for internships, Music said, none are this large or broad.