Our Internships
A Tailored Internship
The Washington Center maintains ties with more than 1,000 internship sites in the governmental, international, business and nonprofit sectors. With help from TWC’s professional staff, students choose a substantive, supervised internship tailored to their academic and professional interests and needs. An Academic Course Between 35 and 50 academic courses are offered every semester, in a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary areas. Students choose one course which they take for three hours, one evening a week. Faculty are highly qualified academics and are often also practitioners in their field. A full course guide with faculty biographies is available on request. The Leadership Forum
Students’ internships and academic study are enriched with some remarkable programming not possible for programs of a smaller scale. At the Alan K. Simpson - Norman Y. Mineta Leaders Series students hear from and question members of the cabinet, ambassadors, leading journalists and CEOs. The Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill program enables students to meet in smaller groups with Members of Congress or their staffs. All students carry out a civic engagement project in an area of personal or professional concern. To document, analyze and reflect on the internship experience, students also complete an academic portfolio.
Academic Quality
The Washington Center recognizes that institutions awarding academic credit for student participation in its programs expect, at a minimum, the same level of quality that the institution provides its students on campus. To ensure the quality of offerings and to meet accreditation standards, the senior vice presidents, director of academic affairs and Academic Council of The Washington Center keep abreast of campus requirements and expectations and review its programs accordingly.
TWC also adheres to academic policies and standards developed by its national Liaison Advisory Board, a group composed of faculty and administrators from affiliated campuses. Further advice on academic matters is provided by the Council of Presidents, composed of the presidents of some of our leading institutions. A complete membership list of The Washington Center’s advisory boards [3] is available, as is a list of program staff and their academic degrees.
Faculty and other campus representatives from prospective affiliates are invited to visit at any time for a full orientation to our program—internships, academic courses and the Leadership Forum—and to tour our facilities, including our new headquarters building, state-of-the-art academic center, and residential and academic facility. If you would like to visit, TWC may be able to help with the expense.
National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE)
As an institutional member of the NSEE, The Washington Center adheres to the principles of good practice specified by this organization, as well as the guidelines for internship programs adopted by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS).
Substantive Work Experience
Internships are individually tailored to offer each student a substantive work experience in Washington, D.C. TWC’s internships are supervised by professional program advisors, most of whom have master’s or doctoral degrees and extensive experience in their fields.
The Washington Center maintains ties with more than 1,000 placement sites, many of which are longtime partners. All internships are substantive and challenging, and at least 80% of the student’s work is non-clerical.
Every student’s program advisor visits the work site to ensure that the university’s, as well as the student’s and the organization’s, expectations are being met. If any problems are encountered and cannot be resolved, TWC will find the student a more appropriate placement.
Academic Credit Models
The Washington Center requires that students earn academic credit. This credit is granted not by The Washington Center, but by the student’s home institution. The Washington Center provides professional supervision and evaluation of the students’ work (in the form of written evaluations and suggested grades), but the college or university retains full academic control. It determines which students may attend our program, and the types and amounts of credit—as well as the grades—they receive.
To enable student participation during the semester, an institution should put together a package of credits that will allow students to retain full-time status and thus receive full financial aid and other considerations.
- Credit packages vary widely among affiliated institutions; two common ones are shown below.
- Some institutions choose to fold credit granted for the internship, academic course and the Leadership Forum (or any combination of those three) into one large block.
- Others institutions layer an additional requirement on top of those of The Washington Center (see models below).
- Many affiliates also find it helpful to create a specific course or set of courses for which The Washington Center’s participants register.
Sample Semester Credit Packages
(others can be provided upon request)
| Example 1 | Example 2 (A Variant with Extra Requirement) |
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Quarter and Summer Term credits can be adjusted accordingly. Usually they total at least 6 to 9 hours, sometimes 12.
Financial Arrangements
The Washington Center’s program fee (tuition) is set between the average tuition of public and private institutions nationally. Students’ actual net costs vary greatly according to additional aid received from any of several sources, including their institutions, states, internship sites and The Washington Center’s own substantial financial assistance program. More than 75% of Washington Center students receive some form of financial assistance.
Private Institutions
Since students remain enrolled on the home campus, most private colleges and universities collect their usual tuition, pay The Washington Center’s program fee from the amount collected, and retain the difference on campus. At some institutions, where tuition far exceeds The Washington Center's program fees, the institution pays both the program and housing fees. Students are usually able to continue to receive their regular financial assistance (which sometimes can be recalculated to account for the increased expense of being off-campus) as well as request consideration for additional assistance administered by TWC.
| Private College or University Tuition* | $13,135 |
| Washington Center 2010 semester program fee | $6,345 |
| Washington Center 2010 semester housing fee | $4,550 |
Example 1
The private institution charges the student tuition and forwards the program fee to The Washington Center. The institution retains the balance, in this case, $6,790. The institution also collects the $4,550 housing fee from the student and forwards it and the program fee to The Washington Center.
Example 2
The private institution collects tuition and forwards both the program fee and the housing fees to The Washington Center, retaining the difference of $2,240. In this case, the student doesn't pay for housing because the tuition covers both program and housing costs.
Example 3
The private institution charges the student tuition and forwards the program fee only to The Washington Center. The institution retains the balance, in this case, $6,790. The Washington Center bills the student separately for the housing costs.
Example 4
The private institution collects tuition and standard room cost for on-campus housing and forwards both program and housing fees to The Washington Center. (In this case, students pay the same amount they would to stay on campus and the institution retains a variable amount.)
*Source for average tuition costs taken from www.collegeboard.com: four-year private yearly tuition $26,273, semester rounded to approximately $13,135.
Public Institutions
Most public affiliates establish billing arrangements to favor student participation—often waiving or forwarding tuition (perhaps after retaining some fees) to help minimize costs or assisting with institutional support (for example, honors or grant funding). Since students remain enrolled on their home campus, the institution is still credited with their FTEs, and the students are usually able to continue to receive their regular financial assistance (which sometimes can be recalculated to account for the increased expense of being off-campus) as well as request consideration for additional assistance administered by TWC.
| Private College or University Tuition* | $3,510 |
| Washington Center 2010 semester program fee | $6,345 |
| Washington Center 2010 semester housing fee | $4,550 |
Example 1
The public institution waives tuition, possibly after taking out appropriate fees, and allows the student to pay The Washington Center directly for program and housing fees. In this case, the student pays the $6,345 and $4,550 directly, less any applicable scholarships (which may be awarded from TWC or forwarded by the institution).
Example 2
The public institution charges regular tuition, then forwards it to The Washington Center in partial payment of the student’s program fee. The rest of the program fee, in this case $2,835, is paid by the student, as is the fee for housing at The Washington Center. The student pays $3,510 to the institution and the institution pays $3,510 to The Washington Center. Either The Washington Center bills the student directly for the remainder of the program and housing fees (less any applicable scholarships) or the institution, as the billing agent, collects this additional amount from the student and sends it to The Washington Center.
Example 3
The public institution charges regular tuition and pays The Washington Center program fee, making up the difference with institutional funds, in this case $2,835 (for example, with honors funding or grant support). The full program fee is then forwarded to The Washington Center. Either the students are billed separately for housing or, as the billing agent, the institution collects the tuition and housing fees and passes them to The Washington Center.
*Source for average tuition costs taken from www.collegeboard.com: four-year public yearly tuition $7,020, semester rounded to approximately $3,510.
