Internships for SALE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I may be late in joining the controversy, but I learned yesterday that several websites were selling unpaid internship positions at major companies for prices up to $9000 and still climbing. Is it just me or is this a serious problem?

The whole point of an unpaid internship is for someone who is 1) dedicated to working in that field enough to work for experience and not pay and 2) is qualified to work in the position and is able to learn the most from the experience. It is also one of the few ways for students who don't have connections or family backgrounds to make their way in to the industry. From the hiring companies' point of view, an internship is a good way to find and train someone that could possibly be a valuable addition to their company, should things work out.

Selling such a position, whether to a set price or to the highest bidder, seems unreasonable to say the least. It would seem that any company looking for an intern would look for someone that fits their needs, who has the set of skills required to work in that specific field and is able to learn fast and efficiently. Not only does this auctioning of internship positions make it impossible for companies to choose who they want, it also exacerbates a social phenomena that is already highly exacerbated: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Since an internship is one of the few options available to students with less means that enables them to enter a industry and make connections or at least earn a chance, selling this opportunity to those with money is somewhat along the lines of "keeping the money in the family", or industry instead, if you will.

Since it is no secret that it is difficult to gain access to high level firms without inside connections, depriving the non-connected person of this already super-rare opportunity just seems very unfair, and against what America stands for. I will not name those who are involved in this controversy, but those parties really need to think twice about what they are doing and what the results of their actions can be, not only on the short term, but more on the long term. The disparity between "Upper class" and "Working class" is already extreme, with 1% of the country's population earning over 20% of total income, and the fantasized "middle class" has all but disappeared. Do we really need to rub salt in the wound?