EARN Indiana Expanding Internship Funding Eligibility
Janet Boston
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFor more than three years, employers across the state have taken advantage of the EARN Indiana program and received state matching funds to supplement the cost of their interns’ salaries. If you haven’t explored how your business or organization can save money with EARN Indiana, the process is simple and the number of students eligible for these dollars will increase beginning this fall.
EARN Indiana is the state’s work-study program for college students with financial need. The program serves Hoosier students, giving them more access to resume-building, experiential, paid internships.
All EARN Indiana employer-student matches are made on Indiana INTERNnet’s web site. Employers post their experiential internship opportunities that meet qualification requirements and eligible students apply directly on the web site. As the employer submits the intern’s hours, employers will be reimbursed up to 50% of their interns’ salaries.
To be eligible for the EARN program, college students must demonstrate financial need through their family’s expected contribution to their college education. Expected Family Contribution is calculated when students file the FAFSA each year. Starting this fall, the expected family contribution required for EARN Indiana will increase from $7,500 or less to $24,808 or less – opening up more paid internship opportunities to thousands more Hoosier college students.
In addition to opening the program to more full-time college students, some of Indiana’s returning adult students are now also eligible for EARN Indiana. Hoosiers who are eligible for the Adult Student Grant may now participate in the program. This expansion will give adults taking advantage of the Commission for Higher Education’s You Can. Go Back. program the opportunity to gain work experience and meet employers in their field of study. You Can. Go Back. encourages Hoosiers with some college and no degree to go back to school and earn their degree.
Additional changes include merging the fall and spring funding waves to streamline the application process for employers who offer longer-term internship opportunities. If you are an employer who uses Indiana INTERNnet, you will receive details on how these and other changes impact your internships once the web site is updated.
“The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is committed to continued collaboration with Indiana INTERNnet to build upon EARN Indiana’s success,” remarks Teresa Lubbers, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education. “The changes coming to the program this fall will make hiring EARN Indiana interns easier for employers and give more Hoosier college students the opportunity to gain meaningful workplace experience.”
Hundreds of students have found meaningful internships through Indiana INTERNnet and the EARN Indiana program, and employers throughout the state have benefited from the students’ talents and the state’s funding.
“This program allowed us to have an additional three interns for the summer,” notes Denise Harding, director of HR and employee services at Kimball Electronics, Inc. “The additional resources enabled us to focus on some projects that would otherwise still be waiting in the wings. We believe that we will have more than one future employee come from the 13 interns we employed this summer. This program is a great way to assist in controlling costs for organizations and to get our next generation real-world work experience before they graduate.”
“If it hadn’t been for the EARN Indiana program, our company would not have had the opportunity to work with such amazing students,” indicates Mohammed Mahdi, co-founder of Soapy Soap Company. “We were rewarded with the chance to watch our interns grow professionally, and we as a company were able to grow simultaneously with them, since their experiences with us have proven to be substantially helpful.”
If your company is wanting to start an internship program, or if you’re looking for assistance with improving an existing one, Indiana INTERNnet exists to help. We provide a web site to facilitate student-employer matches at no cost, and we have instructional resources to help you build a first-class internship program. You can also apply for EARN Indiana matching funds and see if your internship is eligible to receive reimbursement for your intern’s pay.
To register for our free service, visit www.IndianaINTERN.net, or call (317) 264-6852 to speak with our staff about your internship program.