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Student Petition for Payment for Practicum Placements

To Dean Yoshioka, Dean Harding, President Willie-Breton, Provost Lamothe, The Board of Trustees and other leaders of Smith College and the School for Social Work who hold institutional power:

We, Smith SSW P4P and undersigned, need immediate action in response to the Smith School for Social Work Student Experience Survey Report (see report). 

Quantitative highlights from the Survey Report that reflect the unacceptable burden of unpaid practicum placements on students:

• Less than 10% of MSW students in the US are considered food secure. Smith SSW students are not exceptions to this statistic. 
• 86% of students at Smith SSW reported that working paid jobs in addition to their practicum hours “negatively impacted or compromised” their ability to learn from their practicum work.
  
  
• A Smith MSW student who completes the required 1,920 hours of practicum learning accrues approximately $38,400 of lost wages during their program ($20/hr). This has a significant, irreparable impact on student’s futures aside from debt accrued by attending this program. 

Qualitative data and summaries of student reflections:

• Not only do these additional burdens land disproportionately on BIPOC, poor and/or working class, and first generation students, but unpaid internships reinforce racial and gender wealth gaps and serve as a barrier to communities that the Smith SSW claims to center.
  
  
• When polled about the Smith SSW program and its requirement to work for free, students reflected several DIRECT IMPACTS: significant debt and lost wages, food insecurity and hunger, and engagement in high-risk work to survive. 
  
  
• Many of the challenges students face during the program are not clear until after they have made financial commitments to the school. Students find it difficult to make educated financial decisions about the cost of the Smith SSW 27-month program because they do not have enough information.
  
  
• According to students, pedagogical reform is not the solution to unpaid labor. However, compensation for labor will increase meaningful engagement in education. 

We need action within the 2024 summer semester to institutionalize policies for paid placement. As a student body, we need the upcoming strategic plan to address the urgency of Payment for Placement, beginning with the establishment of a joint task force (including Deans, the Office of Practicum Learning, faculty/staff, and current students who would be compensated for their participation) committed to prioritizing and implementing payment for Smith SSW internship labor. This committee will need to draft a one, two, five, and 10-year plan before the end of the 2024-2025 school year. In accordance with the 5 core principles—particularly the 5th: “Stay open to and actively engage with change”—this timeline is non-negotiable.

The Smith SSW’s recent strategic plan examines several institutional avenues of reform. Given the irrefutable results of our Survey (reflecting half of the student body in practicum placement) and ongoing community-based inquiry and data gathering, it is clear the way forward—and toward alignment with our Five Core Principles and economic solvency—is paid practicum placements.

We recognize that paid placement will require a coordinated effort between leaders at Smith College, the School for Social Work, and professional/state institutions; we see it as the role of the Deans of the SSW to pursue, coordinate, and uphold commitments to these multi-level efforts.

Action—or inaction—regarding payment for placement sends a pivotal and lasting message about the values of this institution and its leaders. There has been ample time dedicated to speaking to the issue—the time to prioritize and act on this issue is now.

*The Survey Report contains action suggestions (p. 13). For an annotated version, refer to the bottom of this petition.

This is the Smith SSW petition for current students. If you are an alum or faculty member, please refer to those designated versions to sign in support of this student petition. 

If you are a representative of a student group signing this petition as a group endorsement, please sign as said group in addition to your individual anonymous signature. 

Thank you for your continued support! Please sign and spread the word.

 

 

 

 

*We assert the following considerations for the committee mentioned above:

1. Pursue viability of fully funding payment for placement within the existing Smith College budget and structures. Smith College—separate from SSW—has net assets of over 2.5 billion as of 2021 and has a loan-free financial aid policy for its undergraduate students. 
2. Prioritize negotiation of opportunities for funding student labor at current or new placement sites. Placements themselves may support payment for placement and have the ability and willingness to subsidize placement. Increasing the number of paid placements in the network of placement opportunities is a request of the bare minimum.  
   
   
3. Support the Office of Practicum Learning. The OPL has taken on most responsibility for P4P measures so far. However, all leaders at the SSW have a responsibility for institutionalizing  P4P. This may require hiring additional OPL staff to more thoroughly consider student placement, acquire new relationships with placements, and center student’s self-determination of learning through practicum experience.
   
   
4. Consider the feasibility of funding placements via the existing federal work study program, reintroduction of policy similar to the recently proposed SUPER Act, or extensions of either.
   
   
5. The majority of the Smith SSW budget revenue is made of student tuition. Student enrollment is, and has been, down. If students know they will be paid, more students may feel the program is accessible. Understanding that prioritization of paid placements may increase student enrollment is crucial to Smith SSW’s future.
   
   
6. Consider alternative and worthwhile means of resource allocation within Smith College SSW’s resources. Needs such as mental health counseling could possibly be met by Smith SSW alum in exchange for access to classes, campus amenities, access to SSW continuing education programming, etc. similar to that which is sometimes granted to staff and practicum supervisors.
   
   
   1. Further, consider worthwhile and appropriate spending as it relates to the juxtaposition of admin marketing and/or community building strategies and student hardship. Reconsider redistributing  spending certain monies on staff getaways, marketing travel expenses, parties, etc. to students in need.
      
      
7. Consider other funding sources such as a fund established for donors to give money earmarked for placement stipends. Making stakeholders and donors crucially aware of the data synthesized by the report is a fundamental step to this process. Nearly all, not most, students are impacted by being unpaid. 
   
   
8. Engage in ongoing open dialogue with other universities and colleges. Rather than acting in competition, we could move in solidarity towards a national payment for placement policy. Work with other institutions to pressure the CSWE to directly support paid placements.
   
   
9. Calculate and consider cost of living adjustments according to the geography of practicum placements.
   
   
10. Continuously survey the student body about their experiences. Without this survey and report, there were clear gaps between student experience and admin and institution perception. Gather nuanced and qualitative data that will allow for policies that institutionalize flexibility and enable responsiveness to individualized needs.
    
    
    1. Intentionality towards equity and justice through this process of research and decision-making, perhaps via paid work from the Council, the Core Principles Evaluation Committee, or another source to provide accountability as to whether the process and decisions made regarding payment for placement align with the SSW’s anti-racism commitments. Actively engage with our fifth Core Principle: “Stay open to and actively engage with change.”