What Students Value in Work-Based Learning and What Colleges Need to Deliver It

Our recent focus groups show that community college students value work-based learning (WBL) opportunities aligned with their academic focus, particularly those that offer pay and flexibility. Students also preferred specific WBL models, such as paid internships for credit, over others like unpaid employer-designed projects embedded into existing coursework.

Following the focus groups, we interviewed staff at six community colleges about how they could implement the types of WBL opportunities students found most valuable. We found that the availability and variety of WBL options depend on each college’s organizational structure and resources.

Some career services offices are well-resourced and centrally coordinate a range of WBL experiences. Such colleges benefit from leadership support and resources from the state or philanthropy funding. In contrast, others have their WBL opportunities managed across academic departments, individual faculty members, and small career services offices that may lack the capacity to offer a broad array of WBL options.

Career services offices have traditionally supported students in career development and job search activities, such as resume building and interview preparation. At the City Colleges of Chicago, for example, the Career Services team supports students through a wide range of services including career exploration, resume and cover letter development, mock interviews, job and internship search strategies, professional branding, and guidance on using Handshake, the college’s online career management platform. While they play a key role in preparing students for the workforce and development, WBL opportunities are typically led by a separate department focused on workforce partnerships and academic alignment. These opportunities are often embedded in the curriculum and managed in collaboration with faculty and program leads. Career Services and the Workforce Innovation department work closely together to support student success.

Some colleges, though, have begun realigning the roles of workforce development staff and career services to support WBL initiatives collaboratively. This shift is often made possible by leadership commitment and dedicated funding, whether from state or philanthropic sources or through operational dollars, as the institution prioritizes expanding student access to WBL.

Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) offers a strong example of this integrated approach. Its Division of Workforce and Community Success combines career and job placement services by coordinating internships and WBL experiences. The division aims to ensure that all students engage in a WBL opportunity during their training, which is a range of experiences, including clinicals, practicums, fieldwork, service learning, job shadowing, work-study, internships, and apprenticeships.

Most colleges we interviewed fall somewhere between these two models. Depending on available resources and staff capacity, career services may take on traditional career development functions and WBL coordination. For instance, the Internship and Career Development Office at Bunker Hill Community College provides standard career services while managing WBL internships through the Learn and Earn program, funded in part by philanthropic support. This program serves over 100 students annually and partners with 35 employers.

Community colleges differ significantly in their capacity to launch and sustain paid WBL opportunities. Some institutions, such as Eastern Arizona College, are in the early stages of building WBL programs and face challenges in establishing relationships with local employers.

Others, like Bunker Hill, have more developed programs. However, given the college’s total enrollment of 10,167 full- and part-time students, the data suggests that many more could benefit from WBL if the institution had greater capacity and resources to expand its offerings.

At Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the Office of Research, Strategy, and Innovation coordinates WBL programs such as internships, micro-internships, apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeships. NOVA received a grant to participate in a statewide effort to build and implement a centralized technology platform to improve tracking for WBL opportunities. The platform will enable consistent data collection and institutional and system-level reporting, and help establish a baseline for measuring progress toward increasing paid WBL opportunities by 25% by 2030.

At CNM, the goal is to make WBL accessible to any of its 30,000 interested students. Over eighty percent of academic programs have a WBL component embedded, and 50 percent of 2023–2024 graduates participated in a WBL experience. This level of access is supported by an $11.8 million investment from the state’s Higher Education Department, explicitly earmarked for workforce training and WBL.

At Pima Community College, career services were historically managed by a single staff member and lacked adequate resources. Following a recent organizational restructuring, the college has prioritized resources for workforce development and career services. They currently run internships, registered and non-registered apprenticeships, and job shadowing. The new goal is to blur the lines between transfer and workforce students, making WBL opportunities available to all.

Earlier focus groups with students in Atlanta and Dallas revealed that working community college students were wary of paid WBL opportunities such as internships. They expressed concerns about being underpaid, overworked, and potentially exploited. In follow-up focus groups, students emphasized that they would only consider paid WBL if they had clear, upfront information about pay and benefits, especially if it meant replacing their current job or adding to an already demanding schedule.

Offices coordinating WBL at community colleges can be key in ensuring students are paid for their WBL experiences. At Bunker Hill, every student participating in the Learn and Earn program is guaranteed a minimum wage of $18 per hour and a one-time travel stipend. The program is supported by 35 employer partners, all paying interns directly or entering into cost-sharing agreements with the college. According to the program director, the guaranteed pay and stipend have made internships financially feasible for more students. However, limited resources have made it difficult to scale the program, especially for non-profits and small businesses that require a cost-share model.

Participation has been further supported by Massachusetts’ free community college policy, which allows students to earn credit through the program without out-of-pocket costs. Students must complete a 3-credit internship course as part of the program. Before the free college initiative, many students were interested in Learn and Earn internships but were hesitant to participate if it meant paying for academic credit, echoing concerns raised in recent focus groups.

At CNM, 95 percent of all WBL opportunities are paid. Employers typically hire CNM students at wages ranging from $15 to $25 per hour, and the college can subsidize up to $12 per hour, with a maximum of $4,800 per internship placement. This subsidy is funded through a $1 million grant from New Mexico’s Higher Education Department, which supports apprenticeships and internships. CNM’s long-term goal is to ensure that every student, regardless of whether WBL is a program requirement, has access to a WBL opportunity. This vision is central to the college’s funding strategy and commitment to equitable access to high-quality WBL experiences.

The growing interest in WBL among community college students, particularly paid and flexible opportunities aligned with their academic goals, underscores the need for institutions to build the internal capacity and partnerships required to meet that demand. While some colleges have begun to integrate career services with workforce development functions and secure dedicated funding to support WBL at scale, others are still in the early stages of development, limited by resources and fragmented structures.

What distinguishes high-performing WBL models is intentional institutional design; leadership commitment, sustainable funding streams, employer engagement, and a centralized or well-coordinated approach to student support. Colleges like CNM and Bunker Hill illustrate how these elements can increase student access to meaningful, paid WBL opportunities.

However, expanding WBL access equitably across all programs and student populations remains challenging. Continued investment, whether from states, philanthropy, or institutional budgets, along with clear policies around compensation and credit, will be essential to scaling high-quality WBL. As more colleges seek to meet student demand and labor market needs, WBL must be positioned not as an add-on but as a core component of the community college experience.