Internships

Prepare for Your Career with an NECC Internship

Internships provide you with a great opportunity to gain real-world experience and insight into a career. As an NECC student, you can earn credit through an internship course or you can pursue internships independently for experience.

NECC Internship Stipend

Are you a current student doing an internship for course credit this spring semester? Consider applying for a stipend!

Northern Essex Community College is providing stipends to assist students completing a for-credit, unpaid or underpaid internship, or other experiential learning. This is intended to help alleviate the cost of expenses and the reduced ability to work while completing this academic experience. We have limited stipends available and anticipate a competitive application pool. Eligible students can receive stipends of either $2500 (for unpaid positions with a 120-hour requirement), $2000 (for unpaid positions with a 90-hour requirement), or $1500 (for underpaid positions, defined as paying less than $1000 for the semester).

Practicums and clinicals could be considered eligible for this stipend; however, some programs have external accreditation restrictions that prohibit them from receiving payment for experiential learning hours required for licensure (e.g., Respiratory Care, Sleep Technologist).

Eligibility criteria:

• Enrolled in an associate degree program and completing an experiential learning course for this degree
• Full- OR part-time NECC student
• Have completed 12 credits at NECC
• GPA of 2.5 or higher 
• Must have completed FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year 
• Minimum of 90 hours to be worked over the semester 
• Internship worksite supervisor cannot be a family member, friend, or other close personal relationship 
• A faculty member must approve the internship for credit and student must be enrolled in an internship or experiential learning course that does not restrict them from receiving payment. Some programs have external accreditation restrictions that prohibit them from receiving payment for experiential learning hours required for licensure (e.g., Respiratory Care, Sleep Technologist).

Applications will be accepted from January 5th until February 2nd at 11:59 pm.

Review Process:

Eligible applications are reviewed after the deadline. When reviewing submissions, the selection committee considers: eligibility, quality of responses (substance, content, and writing), reference feedback, and demonstrated financial need. Applicants will be notified via email about the results of their application. Selected applicants must complete the instructions in their award email to receive their stipend.

First-time applicants are given priority; however, students are eligible to receive the stipend a maximum of two times.

Before applying, please prepare:

1. One professional recommendation

A strong recommendation from someone who knows you well is more valuable than a generic one from someone with a prestigious title who doesn’t know you personally. You will need to provide their name, phone number, and email address.

Follow these guidelines when selecting and approaching a reference:

• Choose someone who knows you well:
  • Select someone who has directly supervised or taught you for at least one full semester, preferably longer.
  • The reference should be able to speak in detail about your skills, work ethic, reliability, and character.
  • Avoid choosing family friends, peers, or individuals who have limited knowledge of your professional academic performance.
• Approach your potential reference professionally:
  • Contact them directly, in person if possible, or via formal email or phone call.
  • Clearly explain the purpose of the recommendation (i.e., for this specific internship stipend application)
  • Provide context and explain why you’re applying
  • Ask if they feel comfortable providing a strong, positive recommendation for you and, if they agree, provide them with your resume and any additional information that might help them
  • Give them ample time – ideally 1-2 weeks before the deadline
  • Inform them about the potential for email or phone contact from the stipend committee
• Follow up:
  • Keep them informed about the outcome of your application
  • Send a thank you note

2. Open Response

Prepare your responses for the following essay questions (1,750 character max for each question):
(1) What has led you to pursue this type of work (e.g., academic courses, previous work experience, volunteering, other)?
(2) What do you hope to gain through this internship and how will it contribute to your academic pursuits and/or career development?
(3) How will this financial assistance help you?

*Students are encouraged to write their essay responses in a separate document and copy them into the application form.