For many students, picking a summer internship relies on whether it includes a paycheck at the end of the week.

Despite the financial burden, MSU research shows both high- and low-income students have found ways to make unpaid internships work.

Students from high-income families are more likely to have paid internships than lower-income students, according to a study conducted by Phil Gardner, director of research for MSU’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute and internship research firm Intern Bridge.

Non-profit companies were more likely to hire low-income students for paid internships, while government agencies were more likely to hire high-income students. As for unpaid internships, research shows there isn’t much of a difference between students from high- and low-income families.

Bill Morgan, experiential learning and on-campus internship coordinator for MSU Career Services, said the research shows pay usually isn’t the main factor in a student’s decision to take an internship.

Certain fields of study, such as communications and the arts, are more likely to offer unpaid internships, while other fields, such as engineering and business, are more likely to offer paid internships, according to the study.

Morgan said many students will do what they can to make the best internship possible work, and whether it is paid usually is out of their control.

“It’s not like the student can check a box and say, ‘I would like a paid internship at the White House’ and it happens,” he said.

Journalism junior Camryn Ginsberg said she moved to New York City for an internship with Cosmopolitan magazine this past summer. Because the internship was unpaid, her parents funded all expenses.

“I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity,” she said, adding she can understand why lower-income families might have a harder time funding unpaid internships.

Gardner said paid or unpaid, it all comes down to whether the internship teaches skills to help students transition to their desired workplace.

“Employers do not particularly care if the internship is paid or unpaid, they want to know what you gained from being in the experience,” he said.

Morgan said Career Services Network still worries about cases in which students can’t afford internships.

“We are very concerned about students who either can’t take that unpaid internship that’s really the right one for them … or they take it and they’re living in their car and just expending themselves with high-cost student loans or some other crazy way to afford it,” he said.

To combat upcoming summer internship costs, MSU’s Career Services Network will relaunch the MSU Federal Credit Union Internship Opportunity Award program this week, Morgan said.

The program will offer at least 40 awards at $1,000 each to help cover the costs of rent, food, transportation and other expenses while students are working at an internship.