The Unpaid Position Barrier: Navigating Financial Realities of Practicum

The practicum opportunity seems perfect—meaningful work, excellent supervision, clear alignment with your career goals. Then you learn it is unpaid, requiring fifteen to twenty hours weekly of uncompensated labor while you maintain employment to pay rent, manage student loan payments, and cover basic living expenses. Suddenly the "opportunity" feels like a barrier.

The prevalence of unpaid practicums in public health creates genuine equity concerns, excluding students without financial cushions and perpetuating demographic patterns in who can access certain career pathways. Understanding your options helps you navigate this reality while working toward systemic change.

The Scope of the Problem

Unpaid practicums are common across public health, particularly in government agencies and nonprofit organizations operating with constrained budgets. Even organizations that value student contributions may lack designated funding for practicum stipends. The assumption that students can work without pay reflects historical patterns when graduate education was accessible primarily to those with family wealth.

This structural problem creates cascading effects. Students who must prioritize paid employment have less time for practicum hours, may choose less ideal placements based on compensation rather than fit, and carry additional stress that affects performance and learning. The students most affected are often those whose perspectives public health most needs—people from communities experiencing health inequities who understand those challenges firsthand.

Acknowledging this systemic problem is important because it frames your individual struggle as structural rather than personal failure. You are not inadequate for needing compensation—the system is inadequate for not providing it.

Finding Paid Opportunities

Paid practicum positions exist, though they require more searching. Health departments increasingly offer paid internships, particularly federally funded positions. Hospital systems, health plans, and larger nonprofits sometimes compensate student labor. Research positions through universities may include hourly pay or graduate assistantships.

Start your search with explicit focus on compensation. Ask career services about employers known to pay students. Filter job boards for positions specifying stipends or hourly wages. When contacting organizations, ask about compensation early rather than discovering unpaid status after investing effort in applications.

Some organizations without standard practicum pay have flexible funds that could support students. Ask whether project-specific grants, diversity initiatives, or workforce development funding might cover a stipend. This question costs you nothing and occasionally surfaces resources organizations had not considered applying.

Program and External Funding Sources

Many MPH programs maintain practicum scholarship funds specifically for students with financial need. These funds are often underutilized because students do not know to apply. Ask your program coordinator directly about available support.

External scholarships and fellowships sometimes cover practicum periods. Professional associations in your specialty area, foundations focused on workforce diversity, and government programs supporting health careers may offer relevant funding. The search takes time but can produce meaningful support.

Some students have successfully negotiated course credit conversion to funding. If your program allows substituting practicum credit for a course, the tuition you would have spent on that course becomes available for living expenses during practicum. Discuss creative arrangements with your academic advisor.

Negotiating With Sites

Organizations may have more flexibility than initial conversations suggest. If a position is posted as unpaid, ask whether any compensation is possible. Even modest stipends or expense reimbursements reduce burden. Some organizations offer non-monetary benefits like transit passes, parking, or meal vouchers that have real financial value.

Propose specific value you would provide that might justify compensation. If you are bilingual, have specialized technical skills, or can commit to extended hours, these assets may warrant pay even when general practicum students are not compensated.

Be transparent about your constraints. Supervisors who understand you are managing paid employment alongside practicum can sometimes adjust schedules, allow remote work, or reduce hour requirements. Most want their students to succeed and will work with genuine constraints when they understand them.

Managing Competing Demands

If you must balance unpaid practicum with paid employment, strategic scheduling becomes essential. Negotiate practicum hours that accommodate work schedules rather than accepting whatever is initially proposed. Most supervisors prefer students who can reliably meet adjusted hours over those who struggle with standard expectations.

Look for employment that complements rather than competes with practicum. Some students find part-time positions within their practicum organization, even in different departments. Others identify evening or weekend work that preserves weekday hours for practicum. Remote work options provide flexibility that on-site employment cannot.

Protect your physical and mental health during this demanding period. Running on insufficient sleep while managing double demands is unsustainable. Build rest into your schedule deliberately rather than hoping it happens.

Advocating for Change

While managing your immediate situation, consider contributing to systemic change. Programs respond to student advocacy—collective voices calling for practicum funding, reduced hour requirements, or expanded paid placement partnerships can shift policies over time.

Document your experience and share it through appropriate channels. Student government, program evaluation processes, and alumni surveys provide venues for feedback about financial barriers. Your struggle should inform future students' experiences.

The unpaid practicum norm is not inevitable. Some programs have eliminated it through deliberate policy change. Your advocacy contributes to that evolution, even if you do not benefit directly from the changes you help create.