Questions & Answers

Why is P4P relevant to future social workers?

  ->  Expecting students to work 16-24 hours for free per week keeps low-SES people from joining the social work profession. Field work is work, and paying workers for their labor is a human right and a democratic principle.

How does P4P align with the SSW’s mission to provide a justice oriented and anti-racist educational experience?

  -> The School of Social Work has committed itself to racial equity and education. Yet, Black student enrollment only makes up 4% of the entire UM student body. In order to continue to desegregate the largely white, cis, and heteronormative field that social work is,  Payment for Placements is a necessary component to increase racial, financial and gender equity within the School of Social Work.

Are there any other schools within the University of Michigan that pay their students for field work?

  -> The 60% of Ford School of Public Policy students whose internships are not paid by their employer are given stipends.  The Ford School coordinates this process. The Law School has a similar process.

Good to hear! What other schools around the country are in advocacy of P4P?

  -> Social work students from 19 schools in 12 states have either started or are considering starting their own chapters of P4P.

That’s great! Wait, is P4P asking field placements to pay their student interns?

  -> Field sites that want to pay their student can “opt-in” to doing so.  However, paying field students will largely be the responsibility of the University. 

Excellent point! Where will the School of Social Work get the money to fund Payment for Placements?

  -> The University of Michigan’s endowment now boasts about $9 billion in unrestricted funds (which have increased in 2022!), which the Board of Regents can allocate towards any purpose.

Shoot! I knew the University had money, but I didn’t know that they had MONEY MONEY. When P4P is implemented, what will payment periods look like for students?

  -> Students would be paid in biweekly increments during students’ time in field.  The monetary amount would be tailored to the number of field hours that are expected of students in a given semester.

And how much will we be paid?

  ->  Payment for Placements is advocating for all students to be paid a total of $18,240 over the course of their time in field, which is equivalent to being paid $20 an hour.

That’s amazing! How will the School of Social Work fund Payment for Placements? 

  ->  A new line item in University’s annual allocation for the SSW, totaling $8.25 million per year, would cover both the stipends and new administrative costs. 

Great! What has Payment for Placements already accomplished?

  -> Through our organizing efforts in the 2021/22 school year, student organizers from Payment for Placements convened a Task Force on Field Stipends with the SSW administration to develop a plan to pay MSW students for our placements. The Task Force resulted in the creation of the Alumni Field Fund, which provides $500 stipends to MSW students currently in field internships. While this is a step in the right direction, at $16,000, the fund can only provide for 32 out of potentially hundreds of us who are in field placement at a time. 

  -> We also helped to get SB 1012 signed into law in Michigan. This bill establishes the Student Mental Health Apprenticeship for Retention and Training, or SMART program, which will provide state funds for stipends for social work students doing field work in public schools provided that students agree to a term of service in public schools after graduation.