Educational only: Work and pay decision support, not tax, legal, financial or career advice.
Privacy: No account is required. Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral work and pay planning using your own assumptions.
What this calculator helps you decide
Best for
People estimating the opportunity cost of an unpaid internship.
Outputs
Committed hours, foregone pay, total economic cost and cost per hour.
Start here
Enter weekly hours, weeks and the alternative hourly pay you could otherwise earn.
- Close-intent boundary
- Do not use this to decide whether an internship is lawful; use Second Job Worth It Calculator for a paid additional-job scenario.
Understand real hourly value
Unpaid Internship Cost: committed hours
Committed hours, foregone pay, total economic cost and cost per hour.
Internship time and opportunity-cost assumptions
Enter the time, alternative pay, costs and support used for this educational comparison.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Hours committed to the internship each week.
Length of the internship.
Hourly pay you could otherwise earn.
Travel, meals, clothing or other entered costs.
Cost offsetsOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
Any stipend or support that offsets the cost.
Calculated result
The engine returns 240 committed hours, 3,600 foregone pay and 4,800 total cost.
Use one currency consistently across all inputs.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenario4,800.00Baseline
Alternative hourly pay: 16.00 currency units5,040.00240.00
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Total economic cost
Total economic cost
totalEconomicCost = weeklyHours × weeks × alternativeHourlyPay + directCosts − stipends4,800.00 currency unitsResult4,800.00 currency units
Foregone pay plus direct costs minus stipends. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Total economic cost formula →Foregone pay
Foregone pay
foregonePay = weeklyHours × weeks × alternativeHourlyPay3,600.00 currency unitsResult3,600.00 currency units
Committed internship hours multiplied by alternative hourly pay. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Foregone pay formula →Economic cost per committed hour
Economic cost per committed hour
economicCostPerHour = totalEconomicCost ÷ committedHours20.00 currency unitsResult20.00 currency units
Total economic cost divided by committed hours. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Economic cost per committed hour formula →Inputs used
- Weekly internship hours
- 20
- Internship weeks
- 12
- Alternative hourly pay
- 15.00 currency units
- Direct costs
- 1,200.00 currency units
- Stipends
- 0.00 currency units
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario values are visible in the URL, calculations run in the browser, and optional saved state stays only on this device. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| weeklyHours | Hours committed to the internship each week. | hours/week | 1 to 168 | Required | 20 |
| weeks | Length of the internship. | weeks | 1 to 53 | Required | 12 |
| alternativeHourlyPay | Hourly pay you could otherwise earn. | currency units/hour | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 15 |
| directCosts | Travel, meals, clothing or other entered costs. | currency units | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 1200 |
| stipends | Any stipend or support that offsets the cost. | currency units | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 0 |
Unpaid Internship Cost: committed hours
Use total economic cost as an opportunity-cost scenario, not a legal conclusion.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- totalEconomicCost = weeklyHours × weeks × alternativeHourlyPay + directCosts − stipends
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the work-value formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Act on the result
Check direct costs, stipends and realistic alternative paid work.
Stress-test the decision
Retest alternative hourly pay and weekly hours.
When this estimate can be misleading
- The tool does not decide whether an internship is lawful.
- Learning, networking and future outcomes are not monetized.
- Use total economic cost as an opportunity-cost scenario, not a legal conclusion.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- How to use the Unpaid Internship Cost calculator
Estimate foregone pay, direct costs, stipends and total economic cost without making a legal classification.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
What is the opportunity cost of this unpaid internship?
Check direct costs, stipends and realistic alternative paid work.
Which official source and period does this use?
This market-neutral tool does not use an official local policy rule.
Can I share or save a scenario?
Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
How should I validate the estimate before acting?
Use the estimate as a bounded planning range and replace assumptions with current work and pay records before committing.