Hi. As a parent of a former intern, and also as an independent professional 
(interpretive planner and exhibit writer) who's employed interns, I'd say, if your 
intern is still a student, either undergrad or grad, the main "pay" should be a 
great learning experience, future references, AND formalized, monitored college 
credit awarded only after satisfactory evaluations by professor and employer.  
If you have some funding, great, but unless they're moving across country to 
work with you, most college students expect to supplement the internship with 
earnings/loans in the same way they suppplement their full-time coursework.  
The work/learning experience is the main thing, not the money.

On the other hand, my recent college-grad daughter has discovered, much to 
her dismay, that many places use the word "internship" simply as a ruse to hire 
highly motivated temporary summer or even year-round help on a "stipend" 
that is in fact below the national minimum wage.  This is ethically wrong, 
legally suspect, and cruel to eager young grads who -- no matter how much 
you tell them otherwise -- will always believe that they DO have a chance to 
be hired in the fall. These so-called "internships" are mostly grunt work with no 
structure or meaningful supervision to create a real, useful learning 
experience.  Do not do this!!  

I had a very successful internship experience last year with an older grad 
student in museum studies at West Georgia College.  I did not pay her, which 
was OK given her personal financial situation -- but I DID give her great 
access and a genuine role to play in a major NPS project I was working on 
(with NPS permission).  She contributed, she learned a lot, and both she and 
her professor said it was the department's best internship of the year.     

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