Why Virginia Is Betting $14.5 Million on Internships, and Why Employers Should Pay Attention

Employers want graduates with experience. Students want experience. Yet millions of students who actively seek internships never get one. Virginia is betting $14.5 million a year that closing that gap will strengthen the state's workforce pipeline.

Earlier this year, Governor Abigail Spanberger launched InternshipsVA, committing $14.5 million annually to expand paid internships across the Commonwealth. The program provides a range of support: matching grants, regional internship managers, employer training, and free access to Handshake for recruiting, among other benefits.

But beyond its scale, the more significant signal was what the initiative implied. Virginia is investing in internships at roughly the same level it invests in school-based health clinics and college readiness programs. The message is hard to miss: for Virginia, this is a policy commitment and not just a testing ground.

That framing is long overdue. Internships are, at their core, a workforce development strategy, and one that depends on shared responsibility between educators and employers to work.

Students Want Internships, But There Aren’t Enough

It first helps to understand what made Virginia’s investment necessary. In June 2025, internship postings in the Washington metropolitan area fell by 36 percent compared to the previous year, outpacing the decline in similar markets.

Student demand for internships remained strong during this period. Even as postings dropped, applications rose, suggesting the decline was driven by employer pullback rather than a lack of student interest.

The scale of that gap becomes clearer with a closer look at the numbers. In 2023, 8.2 million students sought internships, but only 3.6 million completed one. Of those, fewer than a third had experiences the Business-Higher Education Forum classifies as “quality,” meaning programs with structured support and sufficient skills development.

The evidence points in a clear direction: there are not enough quality internship opportunities to meet the demand that already exists. This is a problem that employers are uniquely positioned to address.

What Employers Say They Want, and What That Requires

What most employers are asking for isn’t unreasonable. They want candidates who can contribute early and apply what they've learned in a real work environment. The data reflects how heavily employers value this.

When evaluating recent graduates, related work experience consistently ranks among the top factors employers consider, and 81 percent say they are more likely to hire someone who completed an internship or apprenticeship. Internship experience is frequently what separates one candidate from an otherwise equally qualified peer.

When that preference becomes a hiring standard, however, candidates without access to quality experiences are effectively passed over before they get a chance. The result is a talent pool that appears smaller than it truly is, as capable candidates are filtered out by a lack of opportunity rather than a lack of potential.

Deloitte calls this the "experience gap," and the label is apt. Bridging it starts with understanding where the opportunities to build that experience actually come from.

What Universities Can and Cannot Do

It is the job of higher education to prepare students professionally, connecting classroom learning to workplace expectations while holding the line on quality.

At ECPI University, internship programs place students in real environments before they graduate. Practical experience is integrated into the curriculum, treated as an essential part of professional preparation rather than an add-on.

Since 2020, ECPI University students have completed more than 2,000 internship experiences, with more than 1,100 in Virginia alone. The employer network has included partners across a range of industries, such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Capital One, and Dominion Energy.

One recent success illustrates what that network can produce. An alumnus who had built his own career through the program created an internship specifically for current students. He knew firsthand what they needed, and more importantly, what they were capable of. The ECPI University student he brought on performed well enough to receive a full-time offer before graduation.

That outcome reflects what is possible when preparation meets a genuine opportunity. It also points to something universities cannot provide on their own.

While universities can prepare students and help connect them with employers, they cannot manufacture seats. Opportunities like internships only exist if an employer creates them. That part still depends on employers choosing to participate.

Why It Makes Sense to Bring on Interns

For employers who approach them deliberately, internships are among the most practical talent strategies they have at their disposal.

They give employers a lower-risk way to evaluate candidates before making a full-time hiring decision. An interview reveals how someone talks about their abilities, but an internship reveals how they actually perform under real conditions.

That matters because many of the qualities employers value most are difficult to judge from a resume alone. Technical knowledge is certainly vital, but so are skills like judgment, professionalism, and adaptability. Internships give employers a window into these qualities while giving students a chance to grow into them.

For smaller employers, the value can be especially practical. Internships allow organizations to build relationships with emerging talent earlier, before a hard-to-fill position becomes urgent. They also give employers a chance to shape that talent around the tools, workflows, and expectations specific to their workplace.

The return is measurable. NACE's 2026 data shows that employers extended offers to nearly 72 percent of their interns, with more than 63 percent converting to full-time roles. These numbers reflect an effort that looks more like a hiring strategy than an act of goodwill.

Getting Started with Internships Isn’t Difficult

Effective internship programs don’t need elaborate systems or dedicated teams in place to function. What they require is a decision to invest in early-career talent for long-term potential. Employers that commit to them tend to spend less time scrambling to fill roles and more time developing talent they already know.

Virginia has built the infrastructure. The harder work is largely cultural. InternshipsVA exists precisely because the state recognized that employer participation needed to be organized, not just encouraged. It reduced the friction of getting started.

For employers outside Virginia, the infrastructure may look different, but the underlying dynamic is the same. Regions where employers and educators build strong partnerships around work-based learning tend to develop deeper pools of experienced, locally rooted talent. That is an outcome worth working toward.

For most organizations, the starting point is simpler than it might seem. One paid position with a defined project and an assigned supervisor is enough to begin. But it doesn’t need to be a solo effort. A direct conversation with a university career services team gives both sides more of a chance to find the right fit.

Investing in the Future of Work

Virginia has made its position clear. Internships are a workforce development strategy, and one worth funding as a public commitment. However, the shared responsibility that makes that strategy work cannot be legislated. It has to be chosen.

The workforce employers want to hire next year is in a classroom somewhere right now. Whether those students graduate with the experience employers say they need depends, in significant part, on whether employers decide to help create it.

About the Author: Dr. Candice Melton

Dr. Candice Melton is the University Director of Career Services at ECPI University. With more than 18 years of experience in higher education operations, she leads team development, advisor training, employer partnerships, and student placement initiatives. She also serves on committees focused on improving the student experience and teaches college orientation and career development.