Funding the Internship

The availability of paid internships vary with the economy, but normally more than half of the internships have a salary or stipend. Many of the paid internships pay between $12 and $20 per hour with no benefits. Paid internships with nonprofit and international organizations are less common and more difficult to find. Please review the information on internship programs under the FLSA if you have questions about internship program pay under Fair Labor Standards Act.

There are various grants available to assist with unpaid internships. Below is information about available funding opportunities.

Summer Unpaid Domestic Internship Grants

The Humphrey School has funding support available for MPP, MURP or MHR students completing their internship requirement in unpaid or underpaid internships. The Office of Career and Student Success accepts funding applications in the late spring to support unpaid summer internships. An email will be sent from the Career and Student Success Office in March.

There is one general application form for awards supported by multiple funds.

How to Apply for Summer Unpaid or Underpaid Domestic Internship Grants

Application Form

The general application form will be emailed from Career and Student Success in April. Students will be considered for all funds for which they are eligible. Students will need to have completed all the required documents before submitting their application.

Internship Agreement Form

Submit a PDF copy of the Internship Agreement Form confirmation email that will be sent to students after completing that step in the internship documentation process.

*As a reminder, students can receive funding for remote internships.

**Students can use more than one internship to meet the requirement. If students are completing more than one unpaid internship/experience over the summer to meet the requirement, students should submit an application form for each unpaid experience.

Reach out to Amber Bieneck, Assistant Director of Career and Student Success with questions about the grants, application or eligibility.

Eligibility

Any student currently enrolled in good standing in the masters program in human rights, public policy, or urban planning (MHR, MPP or MURP) at the Humphrey School is eligible to apply. Students who have already fulfilled the internship requirement, waived that requirement, or who are in the MS–STEP, MDP, or MPA programs are not eligible for subsidy funds (since those degrees do not require internships).

Students must have a submitted internship agreement prior to the distribution of the funds, and the internship must satisfy the standards for the School’s internship requirement: 1) primarily at a professional level and 2) related to the student’s academic focus and career goals. The internship cannot be completed with units within the Humphrey School or the University, unless the student can document substantial work outside the School/University.

These awards can only support internships during the summer term.

Required Course for Summer

Due to changes in University Requirements for Financial Aid, all students who receive internship grants will be required to enroll in PA 5911, Humphrey School Summer Internship, an asynchronous 10-week summer course designed to accompany and enhance their internship experience. There will be no tuition costs associated with taking the course, which will be taught by Assistant Director of Career and Student Success, Amber Bieneck. Please reach out to Amber if you have questions about the course requirement: biene015@umn.edu.

Deadline

Specific deadlines will be detailed in the email, but generally deadlines for submitting applications are by the first week of May to allow for funding distribution by mid-June.

Available Summer Unpaid Internship Grants

Byron G. (Barney) Allen Internship Grants for Governance and Politics

Through a generous donation from Barney Allen, awards are available to assist Humphrey School students with demonstrated financial need who undertake internships with government entities, political campaigns, or political parties.

Eligibility: Humphrey School students who undertake internships with government entities, political campaigns, or political parties. Preference will be given first to students working with MN based entities.

Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy Internship Grants

Through a generous donation in the name of Julia Henderson, the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy provides one to two awards to assist Humphrey students that have unpaid internships with a feminist organization, broadly defined, or an internship working on a feminist project in a non-feminist organization. Projects should serve women or advance gender equity. Students will be required to complete a report on the internship for the CWGPP upon completion.

Eligibility: Humphrey School students doing domestic or international internships with internships related to gender and public policy

Find more information on the CWGPP internship grant webpage.

George A. Warp Internship Grants

Through a generous donation from the George Warp family, awards are available to assist some Humphrey School students who wish to do internships in an organization that is unable to support the student financially. Priority consideration will be given to students who are working full time and doing their internship within a Minnesota government agency.

George Floyd Human Rights Scholarship

Through support from the Carlson Family Foundation, grants will help students make a direct community impact through exceptional internships with organizations that design and implement solutions to deeply entrenched human rights issues.

Lee Munnich Internship Grants

Through generous donations in honor of Lee Munnich's retirement after 25 years of directing the State and Local Policy Program, one award is available to assist a Humphrey School student who wishes to do an unfunded or partially funded internship with a focus on innovation and change in policy or planning. Students receiving the awards will be encouraged to present the outcomes and lessons learned at the end of the internship to Lee Munnich and other guests.

Pillsbury Internship Grants

Through generous donations to the Pillsbury Internship Fund, awards are available to assist some Humphrey School students who wish to do domestic internships in government agencies or nonprofit organizations where those organizations are unable to support students financially.

Stembler-Ebert Internship Grants

Through a generous donation from Humphrey School alumnus Paul Stembler and his wife Mary Ebert, two awards are available to assist Humphrey School students who wish to do domestic internships in nonprofit organizations where those organizations are unable to support students financially.

David Lucas Travel Grant

In the fall of 2013 David Lucas was a first year MPP student studying global policy. Before coming to the Humphrey School, he taught political systems and world history in Cali, Colombia, and before that he taught American History, American Government, Sociology and World Geography at West Branch High School in Iowa. He grew up in a family of seven in northeastern Iowa.

In the short time David was with us at the Humphrey School, his new friends and colleagues benefited from his rich life experience and his intellectual rigor, and our community was deeply saddened by his untimely death. Thanks to a thoughtful and generous contribution from the Lucas family, the Humphrey School is offering a $500.00 grant to a current Humphrey student doing work which requires travel to the central or southern regions of the Western Hemisphere (South or Central America, the Caribbean).

Stassen Center for International Affairs Summer Internship Grants

Available to students doing internships abroad or in the fields of international affairs, international development, international human rights or any of the specializations listed under the Humphrey School’s global public policy concentration.

Dunn Peace Research Scholarship

The J. W. G. Dunn, Jr. Scholarship for Foreign Research on International Peace was developed to provide an annual award for a University of Minnesota student to pursue research abroad dealing with issues of direct relevance to international peace. For more information about eligibility and applications please see the Dunn Peace Scholarship Website.

Other Sources of Funding and Information

Council of Graduate Students (COGS) Awards

Eligibility: MS-STEP and PhD students pursing research or professional development opportunities

Global Programs & Strategy Alliance

Eligibility: Graduate student funding for international activities

Walter H. Judd International Graduate & Professional Fellowships

Eligibility: Master's and professional students only

Deadline: Early February

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