Which leads us to this: Affording an unpaid internship is a matter of privilege. Typically, people who have solid financial support systems are the ones able to agree to a $0 paycheck just for the experience, while students from lower income families are forced to forego those opportunities to take gigs outside of their field that might lessen their financial stress. In fact, a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employees found that students from families with a household income of $120,000 or higher are more likely to take up an unpaid internship than students from families earning less than $80,000.