cooperative education

[Sohgin]

I'm currently co-opping with a company in Tennessee. Due to the financial situation my employer told me today that after me they wouldn't be hiring any more co-ops. I've always understood it that the government (not sure if state or federal) pays the company for the salary of the student while they are working. I haven't been able to find any resources to look this up. Could you all point me to some documents that show this? If they aren't able to hire someone then they're gonna be bugging me to stay during the summer and I don't wanna .

[prttybean]

It depends on the Co-op programs itself I believe. Here the tab is picked by the employer because the co-op person will generally work for minimum wage. They may get tax breaks or something. There also was a program called YES (Youth Employment Services) that was designed for disadvanteaged kids ages 14 and up. That program was paid for by state funds. I think it depends on where you live too.

This site may be a good place to start searching.


www.tennesseeanytime.org



http://www.state.tn.us/education/

[Sohgin]

Already checked it out. The site is way too massive to get any good results on. Here the students are payed as full-time employees but the actual pay rate and benefits are left up to the employer. Usually about twice what minimum wage is. Not sure about tax breaks. I should probably contact my advisor at school but I was trying to get some information myself first.

[newbie~wan]

Most co-ops/interns who get hired from my school average around $16 per hr. I have a friend who is an intern in metallurgical engineering somewhere and he makes quite a bit more than that.

The government would probably go broke if they were paying this.

EDIT: most ENGINEERING co-ops I should say. My brother was a business major and he had a non-paying internship (that's right - zilch, nada, no dinero).
My other friend is a finance major and he makes about $11/hr working at Merriyl Lynch, or one of those type places.

[Sohgin]

Yeah the more I look into it and think about it the more I realize that that's probably not the case. But I could be wrong.

[ClubMed]

Excuse my linguistic ignorance, whats a co-op ?

cm

Hi club!

Co-op's here are job/ apprentice oportunities given by education institutions and work places. Therefore the school cuts a deal with an employer to have someone work in thier office/network/helpdesk/ you name it. The employer gets a cut on taxes usually - and most instances a chance to test the student by how well they do in real life work.

in other cases - the student must go out and find the work term opportunity him/her self . but the principle is the same.

hope that helps - wiz

[Sohgin]

I always describe it as an internship with school backing. The school makes sure that you don't spend your days getting coffee and making copies but rather do the same type of work as the other employees.