CWU’s Internship program is designed to help students gain meaningful hands-on experiences in their industry while earning credits toward their degree program.
Employers: Please consult our Employer Internship Guide! If you have any further questions, please email career@cwu.edu or internships@cwu.edu.

Winter enrollment is now closed!
Apply for your Spring internships today, enrollment begins February 18th.

Start Here!
Search and apply for internships on the Wildcat Career Network!
How To Register
Consult our Internship Checklist for a step-by-step guide on how to get registered for your internship!
- Confirm Eligibility & Policies
> Confirm your general internship eligibility and check-in with your department to ask about any department-specific internship requirements, processes, or information.
General Eligibility
- Be in good academic standing with no active registration holds
- Must be a current/future experience (no credit for past work) & related to your major
- Must have earned 90 credits (490) or 45 credits (290)
- Must have completed 10 credits in major
2. Find and Secure an Internship Provider/Host
> You will need to locate and secure a potential internship provider. The Market Insights page here or the Jobs tab in the Wildcat Career Network are good resources, as are your professors and alumni of your program.
3. Identify Faculty Advisor & Course Details
> Ask your department to assign you an Internship Faculty Advisor who will act as the instructor for your internship course. You will need to work with this faculty member and your department to obtain key course information such as the course code, course prefix, and any academic or homework assignments that will be required.
4. Create Learning Objectives and Activities (if applicable)
> If your department does not provide you pre-defined objectives and activities, you will need to work with your internship faculty advisor and your intended internship site supervisor to come up with at least three learning objectives detailing what you will learn or practice during the experience. For each objective, you will then need to then identify at least two specific activities you will complete towards that objective.
5. Complete a Pre-Internship File (if applicable)
> If your internship is taking place in a medical facility or at a company listed on our current affiliation agreement list, you will need to complete a pre-internship file prior to submitting your internship application.
6. Complete Your Internship Application
> the application is accessed by clicking the Co-op education & Internship tab in the WCN, then add new experience
7. Complete Training and Purchase Liability Insurance
> Complete the required discrimination and harassment training and purchase the required liability Insurance. The links below are embedded in the application itself to facilitate uploading of completion certificate and proof of purchase.
Required Discrimination and Harassment Training
Liability Insurance for Medical Settings
Liability Insurance for Non-Medical Settings
8. Sign Your Learning Agreement
> This is the ‘contract between yourself, the employer or host site and the University, it will come to your CWU email from DocuSign. Verify the information, initial all the student disclosures and sign. The form will automatically get sent to the remaining people that need to sign.
9. Await Enrollment
>Once the Learning Agreement has been signed by all parties, you will be enrolled in the class and section you applied for.
10. Complete Your Internship Activities
>The ones agreed to with you professor (or assigned by your program)and outlined in the Learning Agreement are the basis for grading.
11. Complete Your Internship Evaluations
> In the final week of the term you will receive email invitations to do both a self and program evaluation, please do so promptly .


Questions?
For general questions, please read our FAQs below. For documents and info, please review our internship resources located lower on the page.
For further assistance, please book an appointment or email our Internship Coordinator.
Internship FAQ’s
An internship is an educational plan designed to integrate classroom study with planned, supervised, and evaluated work experience that links the academic program with students’ career goals and interests. It offers undergraduate and graduate students a unique opportunity to combine career, social, and personal growth with the educational process. Students can do internships on their own for no credit. In this section we are talking about doing internships for academic credit.
The Internship work experience may be full-time or part-time, on- or off-campus, and be paid or unpaid. These are pre-approved work-experiences that pair hands-on work in the field with a specific course and pre-approved academic assignments/objectives to count for academic credits.
To qualify as an internship experience, a position must offer the 6 essential elements below:
- Hands-on work with increasing levels of responsibility for the student.
- A work experience that challenges the student sufficiently so as to be worthy of university-level credit.
- A coordination and supervision of the student efforts by a faculty advisor.
- A means of evaluating the student.
- Work related to the student’s academic major and/or career goal.
- Must be a future or current work experience (cannot retroactively count positions or hours completed prior for credits).
1. A student in good academic standing.
2. The contracted field experience is directly related to the student’s major field of study and/or career goal.
3. The student has completed the appropriate prerequisite courses and possesses the required skills and knowledge.
4. The student must have a departmental faculty internship advisor.
5. The student must have at least 45 earned credits prior to enrolling in a 290 including at least 15 credits at CWU.
6. The student must complete a minimum of 90 total earned credit hours with 10 or more credits in his/her major to enroll in 490.
Internships are consistently listed among the top factors that employers look at when hiring recent graduates and can be an extremely effective way for students of any major to jumpstart their career or professional development. While only some CWU programs require internships, all students who are able to are encouraged to do one or more internships during their program.
Speak with your faculty or academic advisor to get additional information about your department’s specific internship requirements, restrictions, or current opportunities.
Students generally find internships much like they would any other type of job or employment opportunity and can use Career Services, the Wildcat Career Network, or various public job boards to explore opportunities. Once a suitable internship opportunity is located, a student could then complete the internship application to have the requested experience reviewed and approved by their department and the the Career Services office. If approved, the student would be registered in 290, 490 or 590 course depending on their class level and the nature of the internship. Once registered, the student would be expected to complete the internship hours and academic requirements as outlined in the application/agreement process in order to receive a “satisfactory” grade in the course.
A 290 course is intended for students who have not declared a major, are interested in career exploration, or otherwise do not qualify for the 490 level. Co-op 290 is offered for 1 to 5 credits with a maximum of 10 credits. Students need to have completed a minimum of 45 credits before the internship begins; 15 have to be through CWU prior to the internship. There are a limited amount of courses at this level.
A 490 course allows 1 to 12 credits per experience with a maximum of 20 credits to apply toward graduation. The 490 level is specific to the major and students must qualify according to university and department requirements. Students need to have completed a minimum of 90 credits (including any transferred credits) before the internship begins; 10 of those completed credits have to be in the declared major prior to the internship.
A 590 course is intended for graduate-level students and 1 to 8 credits are allowed with a maximum of 12 applied toward a graduate degree. Students at this level are usually on an “as arranged” basis with their advisor and their program outline.
Students can check listings in the Wildcat Career Network by logging in via their MyCWU dashboard. For further assistance, read these tips for finding internships (PDF).
Students receiving financial aid must check with the Financial Aid Office prior to accepting a paid placement. A paid placement could impact future financial aid award amounts or eligibility.
If the student is receiving financial aid, Federal Law requires that any income be declared. If the student is employed and completes a W-4 form, this reporting will occur through regular employment withholding and a W-2 form at tax time. If the student does not complete a W-4 form for the employer, they must declare their income with the Financial Aid Office through a specific form that is available from the Financial Aid Office.
Students receiving financial aid must be sure their academic responsibilities for their co-op experience are completed as agreed on the learning agreement. Any student with an incomplete or in-progress grade at the time of financial aid awards for the next quarter jeopardizes their position to receive their financial aid. Upon completion of any outstanding hours or assignments, students with an IP grade should follow-up with their Internship Faculty Advisor to request that their grade is updated.
If an internship extends past the end of the quarter, the student should be assigned an In-Progress (IP) grade until the internship hours are completed. Student with an IP grade will need to ensure to complete the outstanding requirements before financial awards for the next quarter or risk jeopardizing your financial aid.
Internships are graded as Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U). The final grade will be assigned by the internship faculty advisor and is based on the number of hours completed, course assignments and activities, and the intern evaluations provided by the site supervisor. Internships that span beyond the length of the quarter should be assigned an In-Progress (IP) grade until the remaining hours and assignments are complete.
Health insurance is the responsibility of the student, and if not provided by the employing agency, should be purchased individually. In most instances, the group coverage for students available through CWU will provide adequate coverage; however, the student is advised to consider the level of coverage and the exclusions of the policy which may apply to unique co-op agencies, and to seek supplemental independent coverage, if necessary.
Yes, all students completing internships at CWU are required to purchase one of the two liability insurance options below. The type of liability insurance required depends on if the internship will be occurring in a medical setting or a non-medical setting. Students may use the links below to purchase the insurance that best fits their specific internship needs but are encouraged to use the link within the application, as you will be asked to upload the proof of purchase there.
Medical Liability Insurance: For internships that take place in medical settings such as clinics, hospitals, medical labs, or similar roles/facilities.
Non-Medical Liability Insurance: This is for all other internships that are not taking place in a medical setting.
All internship applications will be completed via the online application found in the Wildcat Career Network. Login to your account (all current students should login via their MyCWU dashboard) then use the left tab to select the “Internship & Cooperative Education” tab. Once the tab has been selected, a page will appear listing your past, current, and draft internship applications. You can edit/review any existing application displayed or click the black “New” button to begin a new application.
Students are also encouraged to view the full step-by-step guide to this process for additional information.
Internship evaluations will be sent to both the student and the supervisor via a system email from “cwu-csm@symplicity.com”. The student will get an evaluation near the end of their internship. The site supervisor will receive email evaluations around the middle and end of the internship.
If you or your supervisor have not received your internship evaluation emails, please email Career Services so that we may follow-up as needed.
Students can apply for an internship at any point prior to the the change of schedule deadline for the term and may apply after that time providing all of the following criteria can be met:
- The student is able to complete the required academic activities and hours as needed for the requested credits within the time remaining in the quarter after their approval. Activities completed prior to or during the approval process would not be applicable.
- The department approves of the internship plan and demonstrates this by providing a faculty advisor and signing the internship learning agreement when provided.
- The student (or internship coordinator on their behalf) obtains permission for late enrollment from the office of the Dean of the appropriate college.
- The internship passes the standard application and approval process in time before the end of the quarter in which it is being requested.
Note that internship registrations occurring after that standard add/drop deadline for a quarter will be subject to the standard late registration fees and may not be applicable for financial aid. Students should speak with the CWU cashiers office or student financial aid offices for additional details on these topics.
In general, students can begin completing activities or accumulating hours towards a given term as soon as all required internship stakeholders have authorized the learning agreement. Students who start the internship before the term generally fall into one of the following three groups:
- Students who have internships that start within 1-3 weeks prior the start of the term or during a break period before the start of the term. In these cases, the student could begin their cooperative learning internship efforts before the term starts as long as the learning agreement, hours, and activities are finalized and approved in advance. Credit for these activities could then be applied towards the term/quarter in which the majority or the internship activities were planned to be completed afterward.
- Students who have internship activities that extend several weeks into a prior term. If a student plans to complete several weeks of internship activities across multiple quarters, the internship should be broken down into multiple internships and applications for each academic quarter it overlaps. For each quarter, the student should indicate the hours and activities that will be completed during that quarter’s date range and the number of credits being requested for that period. Work activities that continue during break should be added to the term that follows.
- Students seeking to start work before the start of the Cooperative Learning Internship course. Some students may begin their industry work/“Internship” prior to the start of their formal Cooperative Learning Internship course (490/590 course). In these cases, only the activities detailed in the approved internship learning agreement would be considered part of the university cooperative learning internship program or course. Any activities completed outside scope or timeline detailed in the pre-approved cooperative learning agreement would be considered direct arrangements between the employer and student and would not be subject to university oversight or eligible for credit allocation.
Important Note for International Students: International students working on f-1 visa cannot begin work until obtaining work authorization approval from the International Student Office. This approval is completed once the internship learning agreement is completed and fully authorized. International students should speak with the international student office for more information about plans or required timelines/authorizations.
CWU internships are a course like any other within CWU and generally need to fit within a standard quarter calendar. It is common however for industry “Internships” or positions to extend beyond these academic quarters. In such situations students have the following options:
Option A) Enroll for multiple quarters. Students can request a new internship course enrollment for each term they intend to continue the work experience. Each quarter they could clone their prior internship application and update it to reflect the new dates, hours, or goals they intend to complete during the coming term.
In this instance, for example, a 9-month work experience could be broken up into three quarters of “Cooperative Learning Internship” courses.
Option B) Only request credit for a portion of the experience. Industry work roles (sometimes called “Internships”) and CWU internship courses (“Cooperative Learning Internships”) rarely perfectly align. Students often begin work before or continue work after their formal internship course period. In these instances, any work activities that fall outside the scope of an approved learning agreement would not be subject to university oversight or applicable for course credits. A student working in a 9-month industry internship might, for example, only enroll in a cooperative learning/internship-for-credit course for just one quarter. In this instance, only the hours completed during that quarter and outlined in the learning agreement would be counted towards internship credits. Any other continued or prior activities, would be seen as arrangements between the employer and student outside the scope of university oversight or affiliation.
Important Note: Students planning to work using an international work visa may have additional restrictions in terms of their intended internship or start dates and should speak with the international student office for addition information.
Option C) InProgress (IP) Grade: Is some rare instances and with department approval, a student may be able to obtain an IP grade in order to allow additional time to complete activities after the standard quarter grading deadline has passed. In such instances, a student would be issued an IP grade by the department until the outstanding work was completed. Once it was completed, a finalized course grade would be in place of the IP. A student who has just a few needed hours remaining at the end of the quarter, for example, might make arrangements to take an IP grade for a week after the grading deadline while the last of the planned hours are completed. Once they completed the needed activities, their faculty advisor could then input their updated grade before the start of the next term.
Important Note: An unresolved IP grade can impact registration, graduation, and financial aid timelines if left unresolved by the start of the following term. Because of these risks, this approach is only advised in limited circumstances and primarily when the student only needs an additional 1-2 weeks to complete the required activities.
International students follow the same internship process as all students at CWU but may be subject to additional work authorization restrictions or requirements. Students should speak with the international student office about their internship plans or learn more about any relevant work restrictions. Students intending to complete internship activities using a CPT work authorization should note that they cannot begin work activities until the international student office has signed off on their work authorization. This sign-off process will occur at the end of the internship agreement authorization process and can take some time. Students should allow 2-3 weeks to complete the full internship authorization and review process when selecting their start dates or filling out internship application materials. Note that the international student office cannot sign any agreement with past dates so it is important to allow time for the internship learning agreement routing process and to follow up regularly as deadlines approach.
[Tab Sixteen] What is the process for doing an internship abroad?
If you are traveling abroad for your internship, whether you are a US citizen or an international student, you must work with the office of Study Abroad and Exchange Programs to complete the Education Abroad Application and other required documentation. Email EducationAbroad@cwu.edu to begin the process.
Central Washington University is committed to providing a learning, working, and living environment that promotes personal integrity, civility, and mutual respect in an environment free of sexual misconduct and discrimination. Sexual discrimination violates an individual’s fundamental rights and personal dignity. CWU considers sexual discrimination in all its forms to be a serious offense.
If you have any questions or concerns about sexual harassment, other forms of discrimination, or how to file a complaint, please visit the Behaviors of Concern webpage.
Central offers two sessions, a six-week and a 10-week session. Internships during Summer quarter are going to go through the same approvals and requirements as other courses would, so be sure and check with your department if wanting to do a summer internship. Summer aid is not included in your student’s normal academic year award and requires separate processing. The types and amounts of aid available can be limited. The costs of Summer is based on the session length. Summer tuition prices are higher than Fall-Spring tuition prices. Recent changes in the federal Pell grant program now allow qualified students to receive a summer Pell. Previously, Pell grant funding was limited to three quarters and that prevented many students from receiving financial aid for summer quarter. Talk to your financial aid advisor for more information about Summer Aid.
Students will be responsible to ensure tuition and charges are paid by the due date. Tuition for Summer Quarter is due on the second day of the quarter.