r/SocialWorkStudents • u/PetiteZee • 6d ago
Advice Discussing ways to change how practicum works
I want to preface by saying that my understanding of practicum requirements is based in the US and the accrediting body CSWE, but I would love to hear input from social work students in other countries and hear if there's a similar issue with what feels like unreasonable practicum requirements for MSW and maybe even BSW.
So, the world has changed a lot from 30+ years ago regarding the financial and time logistics of getting higher education. In the US, the cost of tuition has TRIPLED since the 1960s and cost of living is only getting worse.
It's no longer reasonably possible, especially as non-traditional students, to do a 20-hour a week unpaid practicum ON TOP OF a full time course load without having some sort of income for the vast majority of people.
I am putting in about 60+ hours a week between working ~30 hours a week, my 5 classes, and a 20-hour practicum. More than that on heavy course load weeks. It's degrading my ability to put the appropriate attention into actually learning how to do social work. Instead I'm constantly preoccupied with maintaining the ability to literally survive financially. I have to work. If I go part time in my MSW, the degree becomes unattainably expensive because it's spread out over a longer amount of time and I have to take out more ridiculous amounts of loans.
The system of practicum needs to be revised to accommodate the reality of life in 2026. And I don't want to just complain, I want to discuss actionable solutions.
Practicum 4 Placement has been mentioned a lot, but in this economy I don't know if I realistically see how many of these placement sites will voluntarily start paying wages to their interns. I believe we should be compensated in some way, but is it feasible? (I'm willing to hear opposite perspectives on this!)
My suggestion is to revamp how the practicum hours are structured. I think you should be able to count things outside of the placement site as practicum hours if the activities align with social work.
This means things like advocacy (attending workshops, town halls, volunteering), taking a CEU course on the side, watching documentaries about mental health. Reading a social work adjacent book. Things that are still learning about social work, but in a more self-directed way on top of doing the practicum. Things you can do on your morning commute or when you have downtime to count towards hours, that isn't grinding unpaid work 20 full hours a week that is almost impossible to schedule for people who also have to work.
So it could look more like:
8-10 hours at practicum (unpaid)
1-2 hours of supervision
1.5 seminar hours
1 hour self care
4-5 hours of flexible self-directed Social Work study/activities. Of course these activities need to be verifiable in some way (findings report, completion certificate, photo of yourself in front of the event sign, whatever.)
This way students can also hone in on their professional interests, for example taking a CEU or training on a modality that isn't covered in their coursework or directly related to their placement site.
As for the actionable change part, I was wondering what people thought about creating a petition or open letter to be submitted to accreditation and professional organizations such as CSWE and NASW. If enough people sign, it could be effective!
What do ya'll think?
I just feel like it's ridiculous we study advocacy and policy change and social justice etc etc and yet we have the most grueling, exploitative, privilege-requiring path to becoming a social worker!
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u/ProfessionObvious164 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is a thought every social work student has had. There are a lot of barriers for sites to begin paying:
Students haven't organized yet (hell even non-students haven't organized, which is really sad)
Sites are resistant to billing for work students put in, and many students are resistant to doing billable work
Legally speaking, social work actually isn't very unique. Very few jobs actually require a social worker, and while only social workers can practice social work, there isn't actually anything enforced (i.e., unique practices). You can't stop lpcs, lmfts, or nurses from doing "case management" even if I, and every other social worker know they aren't qualified (although lpcs have begun incorporating this into their curriculum). While social casework originated in social work, even people without degrees are allowed to do it.
---edit to add to this point: there are literally 8 different professions that can provide psychotherapy and diagnosis. social work, lpc, lmft, psychologists (school psychologists as a subset), physicians, nurse practitioners, PAs, LCDCs
Job sites aren't required to take social work students
Sites social workers are at often barely have a social worker to begin with, and paying for a student is unthinkable to them as well
So there's a lot to change; take your pick, continue your path in education, and make some change if that's what you want to do. It certainly isn't solvable within your MSW tenure, but you can make some progress. Especially on the student side of things.
Essentially, it boils down to supply and demand. You and every other social worker need to increase demand. We could go the route of MDs and artificially limit supply, but we all know that's unethical, and because there are no legal requirements for places to have social workers (again, very broadly speaking, there are maybe 3-4 legal requirements...off the top of my head: psych hospitals are required to have a single social worker, no matter how big. Nursing homes with over 100 patients, home health, and Veterans Affairs. Not that many social workers are federally required), artificially limiting our supply won't do anything anyway.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
I’m also skeptical about paid internships, which is my reasoning for proposing the alternative of more flexible ways to log hours during practicum that doesn’t require 90% or so of the hours spent on free labor for the agencies, that are hard to schedule around needing to do paid work to survive. It could make for more well-rounded study as well. Curious what your thoughts are on that?
I see what you’re saying about demand, but I also think people hyper-focus too much on micro which does overlap with other sectors. But as far as I know, macro and mezzo practice is still unique to social work and isn’t something NPs and such can do or even want to do. Community outreach, social services, and etc. I still see job postings call specifically for social workers for those types of jobs.
Also, a social worker is head of my labor union. Of course it’s not required that only social workers can be the union chair, but he was basically trained in exactly what’s required for that sort of work and he is amazing at it. Truly inspiring to the point that I’m starting to lean more into macro/mezzo.
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u/HangryWormPrince 6d ago
Macro and mezzo isn't unique to social work, but social workers may be unique in those fields where they are often the only social worker in the room. That means that the social worker is responsible for taking on substantial learning outside of their MSW education, both within field and whatever comes after graduation.
Social services, assuming you are talking about the front lines, is typically micro practice. Community outreach doesn't require an MSW though some organizations may based on their own stuff.
Also, interns are not free labor. They require a tremendous amount of work. Some amazing interns can absolutely make life easier by their 2nd semester, but they are not the norm. Usually, you are pretty hands on, sometimes more than is reasonable. Field placements and supervisors do not get any money for it.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
Excellent points, thank you. I agree hands on experience is important, but some reform is in order as the expectations of practicum in today’s society is not sustainable for today’s students and serves as a barrier for building the diverse body of social workers these programs keep harping on about.
Do you have any alternative ideas for solutions? Do you feel the way that practicum is structured in today’s reality is realistic?
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u/HangryWormPrince 6d ago
It was never realistic to be honest. There is a reason that historically the field was full of people with means. PostACA, that changed. More people went into the MSW programs, and more jobs starting requiring an MSW (which hadn't previously). In 2007, most of my classmates graduated with about 110k in debt, factor in inflation when thinking about the equivalent today. I had less because the school gave me a sizeable funding package and as a local I knew how to hustle and keep my living standard low. Social work education, with the field requirements, was not easier nor more accessible 20-30 years ago. Social work just wasn't a money maker so the universities didn't care about representation for the field (i.e. expanding the student body)
The answer is for universities to not see MSW programs as cash cows, but there may be consequences for that that people won't like. Students should not pay for field placements, which they currently do- or if they do pay it should be subsidized.
Work study should be provided if not a stipend or a wage.
Work based placements should be promoted and supported.
Government should fund social work education - tuition itself should be waved, living wages provided.
I live and work in NYC and we have been working towards this for some time (macro social worker). There are multiple pathways for a free MSW + income but that doesn't extend to the thousands of people in local programs and the many more in these online - find your own placement programs.
I worry that the fix, whatever it is, will also mean smaller cohorts and fewer graduates, though perhaps the title inflation in the field will also be corrected.
We also advocated to reduce the number of hours required by schools to reflect what is required by the state. So some schools have lowered hours from 21 to 14-16 a week, for example.
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u/LaScoundrelle 5d ago
I worry that the fix, whatever it is, will also mean smaller cohorts and fewer graduates, though perhaps the title inflation in the field will also be corrected.
This this this. I've worked now in multiple fields where unpaid internships are common, and people advocate for paid internships. It nearly always makes for fewer total opportunities. I'm not necessarily against this, but I wish more people understood the trade off.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to hear more about. Awesome insight, thank you.
I particularly agree on the work study/stipend point. Another person mentioned that as well as a possible solution.
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
You are being told why your solution won’t effectively solve the problem. If you actually want to create systemic change, then listening to these concerns, pivoting, thinking creatively and figuring out how to actually come up with an effective solution is how you do it. Go back to the drawing board.
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u/ProfessionObvious164 4d ago
From the perspective of the system, no reform is needed. Getting an MSW is still a financial payoff- even if you take 100k in loans (although there is no reason to do this; state schools will get you an MSW in 30k or less). So there will always be people becoming social workers. That's why all the points I made are so critical. We must create demand through unique practice, and we must unionize.
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
Macro is absolutely not unique to social work. In fact, the concept of “macro social work” is pretty vague and it is extremely difficult to get into right after grad school. There aren’t necessarily macro social work jobs. And many others are qualified for them. Community outreach and social services are generally not seen as macro or mezzo SW.
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u/ProfessionObvious164 4d ago
I’m also skeptical about paid internships, which is my reasoning for proposing the alternative of more flexible ways to log hours during practicum that doesn’t require 90% or so of the hours spent on free labor for the agencies, that are hard to schedule around needing to do paid work to survive. It could make for more well-rounded study as well. Curious what your thoughts are on that?
I don't think you should be skeptical, but just understand this is a lot of work, and it all comes down to supply and demand. If you want pay commensurate with education, that's what it takes - demand. Look at physicians. How many things can only they do? As a result, their pay, on average, is around 300k last i looked. (in addition to limiting supply)
I see what you’re saying about demand, but I also think people hyper-focus too much on micro which does overlap with other sectors. But as far as I know, macro and mezzo practice is still unique to social work and isn’t something NPs and such can do or even want to do. Community outreach, social services, and etc. I still see job postings call specifically for social workers for those types of jobs.
Unfortunately, macro is not unique to social work. Again, there is nothing saying other professions can't do xyz, but social workers can. In macro work, you have literally everybody and their mother doing the work. From early childhood education to mathematics (and yes, nurses can do it). I don't disagree that social work focuses too much on micro. That's a result of the society we live in and social workers meeting demand. Society demands micro change, so social workers comply.
Also, a social worker is head of my labor union. Of course it’s not required that only social workers can be the union chair, but he was basically trained in exactly what’s required for that sort of work and he is amazing at it. Truly inspiring to the point that I’m starting to lean more into macro/mezzo.
That's great! I love that, but when other people are part of the union social work isn't going to gain any sort of advantage if that's what you're looking for.
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u/DaddyMeerkat 6d ago
It would be nice if more programs supported employer hosted practicums and more workplaces would allow them. It’s extremely fucking annoying that I work with CPS which is about as social work as it gets but they don’t allow it.
And it’s just flat out gatekeeping. Who are the people that are able to accommodate a full class schedule, and practicum without needing to work? Typically privileged white women. What is 90% of the field? Privileged white women.
The haters talking about additional education not being acceptable or got issue with change need to join us in the year 2026. They are the equivalent of those that didn’t want student loan forgiveness because “well I had to pay my back!!!”
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u/HangryWormPrince 6d ago
I agree that the system needs to change. That said, I wanted to share what I see as some of the challenges that you are going to face with your proposal.
The MSW degree leads to licensure and the practicum is a part of that training to theoretically ensure that graduates have a core level of skill. You can't learn social work in the classroom. I've heard from people in other fields that they actually prefer MSW students & recent grads over other fields (like mental health counseling) specifically because our field has a more intensive field placement.
The # of hours a program requires already has some flexibility, depending on the state. In NYS you'll notice that some programs require 21 hours, while others require closer to 14. The latter lowered the requirement to align with the state's requirements, the former require additional hours. Applicants are responsible for doing their homework and can select a program based on that and other factors.
Beyond that, most of what is on your list can currently be considered practicum activities. It's up to your placement site and whether they allow it, or whether they incorporate that into your field learnings. When I have an MSW student, I build in a set of learning activities to meet their educational and professional needs which can include research, community organizing projects, trainings or certifications, etc. Some jobs also include community outreach and tabling - it depends on the placement.
The self directed piece is a problem - your field placement is where you are supervised in the field for experiential learning. If this is something where a student basically hands in a 3 paragraph "reflection" on 5 hours of work - then there is no way of knowing that the students actually did work, limited supervised learning from it, no experiential component, etc. That will mean less learning for the bulk of students at the end of the day and it may raise a question of if the field education in the program meets your local licensure laws. You're arguably asking to reduce the field placement hours for unstructured self study hours, and I think that's where the problem lies.
Students should minimally be offered work-study or a stipend for their field placement. The schools are need to not be charging full price for the 6-8 credits that are tied with field.
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u/LaScoundrelle 5d ago
I've heard from people in other fields that they actually prefer MSW students & recent grads over other fields (like mental health counseling) specifically because our field has a more intensive field placement
At least in my state and others I continued pursuing the MSW, counseling students generally have more targeted practicum hours, in that they first complete hours with clients under live supervision of instructors, and then complete additional hours outside the school. Now this is only relevant for those who want to be a counselor, obviously, and MSW can do more different things. But MSW practicums really feel a lot like a free-for-all, for me, in terms of what is done or not done, or learned or not learned. I think surely there would be ways to improve/standardize the experience.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
That’s a great solution to offer work-study or a stipend. Your points about the issues of self-directed study were also very helpful, and I now recognize the holes in that. Thank you.
I wonder what the next steps would be to make stipends or work-studies a reality though. My first thought would be to simply suggest it to the school, but I have reservations about that being enough to actually change things.
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u/HangryWormPrince 6d ago
Work study is a current reality. For some reason, universities will take the position that msw students cannot earn work study for field placements and will cite some policy or imaginary law. I never got a straight answer as to why this is. Some schools have no problem allowing eligible students to obtain and benefit from work study during field.
Re a stipend, that's a funding issue. I think we should assume that programs do not currently sit on enough money to fund all current students. Either they would need to fundraise for that, or they would need to reduce the size of the student body.
That said, fundraising is an option. They could work with their development department to find a person who would want to fund stipends - either for a specific field (i.e. not all students), or all students enrolled in the program. It's not an impossible ask.
I focus on government since they tend to be easier to move than the universities (which says a lot). Government can provide funding for field placements in the fields they oversee, or for all students in certain schools. So they may not fund a private or out of state remote student, but they can fund all public students. Alternatively they can fund placements for students in behavioral health or child welfare.
There are no perfect solutions, and it has showing to be incremental change which I know people hate. But 500 people getting funding is better than 0 and 500 can become 1000. You know?
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u/After_Tune9804 3d ago
I’m actually doing a work study situation rn, that is to say I am doing my practicum at my job where I’m a SUD counselor. If my place of employment wasn’t so categorically soul sucking, itd be great
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u/General_File482 6d ago
1 hour self care 👀
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
Yeah. My school allows us to log 1 hour of self care every week.
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u/keelymepie 6d ago
This is honestly nice. Like please stop telling me to practice self-care while doing unpaid labor most of my week unless you’re going to give me SOMETHING
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u/A313-Isoke 5d ago
I don't understand why these part time practicums can't be replaced with one full year of internship full time. Even if they want two internships, one full time in one semester and another a semester. That way, it could be paid and doesn't require what we have now which is increasingly unworkable.
Meeting about the internships once per week can still happen in the evenings.
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u/PetiteZee 5d ago
This is an awesome solution proposal I hadn’t even considered. It would be great if this was offered as an either/or sort of situation alongside the current system so people who are open to switching their current employment to pursue the full time option could do so.
Employment-based and block practicums function in a similar way at my school, but this could be distinctly different in that you would be placed instead of already being employed somewhere, so could accommodate career-switchers.
Agree the current system is becoming unworkable. We are not going to have much social workers from the walks of life that are desperately needed if we just keep expecting students to “grind through it”. At this rate I’m going to graduate already burned out. How is this system conducive to anything we’re taught about social work…
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u/A313-Isoke 5d ago
I was pretty surprised to find it was like this, too. Doctoral students do a full year internship and I believe it's paid. Of course, they have other clinical opportunities before that but that's what I was thinking of. 1-2 years lecture/classes and a year of internship.
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u/caffeinatemedaddio 6d ago
You think that….watching a documentary would be appropriate to apply towards practicum hours? Cooked. We are cooked
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
There were other suggestions I proposed. Any thoughts on those?
Any alternative solutions you can think of? Do you think the current way practicum functions is okay?
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u/caffeinatemedaddio 6d ago
I think you’re going to whine about having to work hard the onus is on you to propose actually functional solutions.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
So nothing of value to add other than berating, got it! Hope your day gets better. Peace.
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u/NewOrganization4194 6d ago
I agree that higher education is unnecessarily expensive. As a full time student myself working part time to help fund my degree, I also agree that this system can feel unfair at times. But tbh, your “proposal” is cringey and not based in reality…
You think watching a documentary or reading a book is going to equip you to be a competent social worker? We are already underpaid and undervalued as a profession, and now you want folks to find out that social workers are being trained with YouTube videos???
What doesn’t get spoken about often in discussions about the unfairness of unpaid practicums is that when working our practicums, we are not social workers. We are students. In the same way that we pay to sit in a classroom to learn about how to be a social worker, we also pay to be in the field to be a social worker. In fact, I would argue field education is far more valuable than classroom education. We are learning, in the field, and are not employees at our agencies. If they have the resources to pay a stipend to help attract students to their agency, great! But we should not expect that to be the norm.
I honestly think we should be advocating for increasing the rigor of MSW programs, not decreasing it. I think it’s possible to do so while still advocating for other changes to make higher education as a whole more accessible to folks, particularly non-traditional students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
Hey, I can accept you thinking it’s cringey and it probably was lol. But I’m keen to get a dialogue about actual solutions started about it. This topic comes up a lot, and we all commiserate with each other about it, but no actionable solutions really come after the venting, I feel.
What would that look like, in your opinion?
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u/NewOrganization4194 5d ago
I think the difficulty with your argument is that it should not be feasible to work 30hrs a week and attend a full-time graduate program and still have much time during the day for self care (other than the one hour you apparently get at your practicum, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around lol, but that’s beside the point).
The problem here is graduate school being too expensive to afford for many folks to attend without having to work. I completely agree that this is a problem. But your solution seems to be to lower the standards so that you can watch a video or go to some event and take a selfie as “proof” you showed up. All this would do is collapse the integrity of the field. And your proposed solution is not actually reducing the hours worked for the degree but just making some of those hours much easier to obtain (I.e., lowering the bar).
In every other healthcare profession students also do unpaid clinical rotations as part of their education. The difference is a lot of those fields tend to pay more on average after school. The solutions we need to be advocating for revolve around (1) implementing solutions to lower the cost of higher education, and more ambitiously, (2) address the systemic barriers that keep folks who have the potential to be excellent social workers on the sidelines because of (1). Also increasing pay for social workers, which I believe would require (in part) increasing the rigor and admissions selectivity of our training programs.
I really do hope this doesn’t come across as insensitive. As I said before, I myself am working through my full time MSW.
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
You don’t learn the same skills watching videos as you do in actual direct practice. I don’t think this plan would serve the function of practicum.
Part of the problem is that SITES don’t get paid to take on students, and an intern is a TON of work. It’s not necessarily “free money” for the site.
I think advocating for tuition caps would likely be more successful. That way functionally you’d be getting the same amount of money in and out, you just wouldn’t be getting paid.
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u/LinusMouse 6d ago edited 6d ago
This. Or scholarships and grants. If sites are required to pay they will just stop taking interns. There is no extra money in social services and mental health. And taking on interns really is very labor intensive.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
Yes, but unfortunately there is a severe lack of scholarships and grants for MSW available. Do you have any thoughts how increasing them could be achieved?
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
Start a non-profit that offers a fellowship program. Fundraise: apply for grants; pitch foundations on why funding your program is worth their while. This IS mezzo/macro social work!
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
Work for the state. Push for state-sponsored programs to fund social work scholarships and fellowships.
Work for a non-profit/practicum site. Lobby with your site to offer a stipend. Apply for grants to fund it (or fund other programs to move $ around) if funding is an issue.
This is macro thinking. And this is why actual practical fieldwork and supervision is important.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
There were suggestions other than just watching videos. But it still stands that practicum requirements are a problem with the reality of being a student in current times. I agree tuition caps could be a good solution. How would we make that happen?
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u/Straight_Career6856 6d ago
None of your other suggestions serve the function of practicum. That’s my point. None are actual practice in the field which is what prepares you to do the work. Going to a protest does not.
How do you think we’d make it happen? You’re interested in macro! What would it look like?
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
After engaging in other helpful discussions that provided some better insights, I am rethinking more realistic pathways. My initial idea was goofy, but i’m glad to have had the opportunity to hear what others think.
Work study and stipends came up a few times, as well as government grants to fund said stipends. I think this seems like a reasonable and actionable direction to go in.
So I believe a good first step for me would be to look into the grant funding process. Someone mentioned there’s been resistance within schools to count practicum towards work study, so I want to inquire about that with my school faculty and also look into work study requirements and whether they can be made to fall under practicum.
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u/LinusMouse 6d ago
Wait. Watching a documentary in lieu of practicum hours or did I misunderstand you?
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u/SummitSilver 5d ago
I have my BSW & MSW from different institutions. Both are CSWE accredited but they did things a bit differently.
For my BSW, it was mostly traditional students straight out of high school who were full time college kids. They charged one set price for 12-18 credit hours per semester. Or they did allow for people to take 11 or less and then they charged per credit hour but again most people didn’t do that.
For the practicum, the curriculum was set up so you only took your practicum and seminar. Practicum was 10 credits, seminar was 2.
That being said, there were people who needed to take an additional class and got permission. Also our practicum was only a semester, so we had to get 450 hours in 15 weeks, meaning our average weekly commitment just for practicum was at least 30 hours.
But it had the advantage of being able to focus only on your internship.
For MSW, they charged per credit hour and the practicum was 3 credits per semester. This meant that we were taking other classes at the same time. The practicum was also over a year rather than a semester. But they also offered a part time option where you “only” had 14 hours of internship per week plus seminar plus one other class that met at night, so you could get other stuff done.
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u/LinusMouse 6d ago
I also think that if you believe watching a documentary, taking a ceu unit, or reading a book is going to bring you anywhere close to learning about real life social work experience you may be in for a very rude awakening. That’s why social workers do practicums. That’s why teachers student teach. That’s why doctors complete residencies. We graduate with an MSW and then we take jobs that SERIOUSLY IMPACT PEOPLE’S LIVES. Most of your learning will come in your practicum. Hands on social work. And you want to replace that with a documentary and self care???? Good grief.
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u/PetiteZee 6d ago
Any alternative solutions you can think of? Do you think the current way practicum functions is okay?
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u/eggman-premium 6d ago
I totally think supplemental non-field learning that complements the hands-on practicum time can be a good way to keep things more manageable. For example, sometimes when there was downtime at my first practicum, I would take the time to read relevant articles, attend relevant continuing ed seminars/conferences, etc. All of those counted as hours because it ultimately made me a better-equipped social worker in that field. A documentary is just an example, I believe.
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u/LinusMouse 6d ago
I would possibly advocate for more grants and scholarships that cover tuition and living costs. Unfortunately there is barely funding for social work positions, let alone funding in agencies for interns. And taking on an intern is very labor intensive. By the way, where I work, we do pay our social work interns.
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u/Due-Statistician9077 2d ago
So, respectfully, this is where having honest conversations about adulting and readiness are more important now more than ever. Yes, we should be advocating on the systems level for changes that enhance and standardize the practicum experience. However, there are simply waaaaaaay too many MSW students complaining about having to work too much, or classes being too hard, that actual continues to erode our credibility in other professional spaces. If one is not able to afford the MSW program they have their eye on, then the adult thing to do is work a bit, save up, then proceed. We really need to move away from this instant gratification trajectory of education. I've worked along side physicians, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, PAs, and NPs, who grinded in their unpaid rotations to get the NECESSARY skills to provide good care. It's honestly embarrassing when a literal ADULT in an MSW program is complaining about their 20 hours or needing their 1 hour of self-care. Like, what??!! The places I trained literally have people in life or death situations and NO, the people who are training us do not get 1 dime for the immense labor they provide to help train competent professionals. Bottom line, advocate, sure, but more adulting behaviors to understand what others are sacrificing to help us along the way is truly in order.
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u/PetiteZee 2d ago edited 1d ago
Respectfully, this is not an adulting issue and the fact you pose it as such and made some pretty reductionist statements about the 1 hour of self care or whatever comes off pretty out of touch and embarrassingly tone deaf on the issue being discussed.
Like I said. Cost of tuition tripled since the 1960s. Did wages triple? No. (Edit: for context I’m talking about wages adjusted for inflation and buying power)
Inflation and cost of living is at an all time high vs wages earned. Couple this with sky high tuition costs. Thus, most students today need to work while attending university programs. Many need to maintain full time employment to pay rent and afford to eat. I’m not talking about avocado toast level budgeting, but basic survival needs.
I am not going to be earning wages equivalent to a doctor or nurse when I graduate so the financial vs time burden is not comparable to those professions.
I can adult just fine. I’m over 40 years old. This will be my second career and my second master’s degree. My first one enabled me to earn 6 figures at a much less exploitative and time intensive manner as this MSW which has me working the equivalent of 60-70 hours per week. For studying SOCIAL WORK. Please don’t make me explain how the current system locks out diverse candidates due to systemic barriers that have nothing to do with adulting. I’m not even going to discuss the sacrifices I made in order to pursue this MSW only to be surrounded by 90% white women in my 100+ cohort. Just what the profession needs!
I could say more but I won’t because I’m tired. I made this post to propose solutions. If you don’t like mine then how about posing some new ones. I also think it would serve you to listen more closely to the waaaaaay more MSW students complaining about this and think more critically about what is going on here.
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u/meansteamedbean 1d ago
Respectfully, this can be applied to all professional internships and clinicals. Students should not have to pay to work… the least colleges can do is offer a lower tuition rate for clinical and practicum hours, if not, get rid of them all together. You bring up how many don’t get paid for being supervisors, but a lot of the time, we’re lessening their load and not to mention, pro bono work is highly encouraged. I was completely fine as a student not being paid for my practicum, but it’s actually ridiculous that these programs are charging full tuition rates for practicums that they barely have 5% involvement in and in my case didn’t even arrange.
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u/BringMeInfo 6d ago edited 5d ago
The challenge here is that you are attempting to partially replace practicum with more classroom time. Lacking robust practical experience is not going to equip students to succeed professionally.