--- title: Clinton Campaign Asks FEC If Unpaid Intern Can Get College Credit description: Without the stipend counting as a donation to the campaign canonical: https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-04T01:22:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:19:17.975Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Asked If an Intern Could Get Paid by Her College og:description: Without the stipend counting as a donation to the campaign og:url: https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c9254129bda684d/69886f48196cf4370d038cd5/hrc.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: African Americans For Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting With Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Asked If an Intern Could Get Paid by Her College twitter:description: Without the stipend counting as a donation to the campaign twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c9254129bda684d/69886f48196cf4370d038cd5/hrc.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Asked If an Intern Could Get Paid by Her College  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 4, 2015 1:22 AM UTC  Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Speaks to Supporters during the "African Americans for Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting with Hillary Clinton" event at Clark Atlanta University Gymnasium on October 30, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Speaks to Supporters during the "African Americans for Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting with Hillary Clinton" event at Clark Atlanta University Gymnasium on October 30, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia.Prince Williams—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 4, 2015 1:22 AM UTC The Hillary Clinton campaign asked the Federal Election Commission if an unpaid intern could get college credit and a stipend from her university for her work on the campaign. According to [paperwork filed](http://saos.fec.gov/aodocs/1322474.pdf) with the FEC on Oct. 29, the DePauw University student would receive college credit as well as a grant from a summer internship grant program at the school’s Hubbard Center which offers money to students who do unpaid internships. Clinton campaign lawyers argue that the student should be permitted to accept the $3,000 stipend and the college credit without either being designated as in-kind contributions to the campaign because the university “did not condition the availability of the stipend upon the political nature of the internship.” The campaign also argues in the request that the if the FEC rejects the school’s ability to provide a stipend, it will prevent students of less affluent backgrounds from working for campaigns in the future. The Clinton campaign has received [criticism](http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/06/23/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-millenials-column/28936259/) in the past for its use of [unpaid staff.](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/hillary-clinton-unpaid-summer-intern-campaign) The former Secretary of State and current Democratic frontrunner has advocated for increasing the minimum wage and reducing income inequality. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Asked If an Intern Could Get Paid by Her College","datePublished":"2015-11-04T01:22:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:19:17.975Z","description":"Without the stipend counting as a donation to the campaign","url":"https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c9254129bda684d/69886f48196cf4370d038cd5/hrc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c9254129bda684d/69886f48196cf4370d038cd5/hrc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"African Americans For Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting With Hillary Clinton","caption":"African Americans For Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting With Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Prince Williams—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4098966/hillary-clinton-unpaid-intern-fec/","name":"Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Asked If an Intern Could Get Paid by Her College"}}]}] ```