Iowa Student Internship Program

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Business Engagement

The Iowa Student Internship Program provides grant awards to small and medium-sized Iowa businesses to help grow and support student internship opportunities in the targeted industries with a goal of transitioning student interns to full-time employment in Iowa upon graduation. 

  • Eligible employers may qualify for awards up to $9,300 per fiscal year.
  • Funds are disbursed on a reimbursement basis. For every two dollars of wages earned by the student intern, one dollar paid by the employer is matched by one dollar from Iowa Workforce Development  during the designated internship period (up to $3,100 per intern).
  • Funds generated through any state source cannot be used as matching funds; federal funding is an eligible match.
  • A company is eligible for a maximum of 3 internships per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).
  • Funds spent prior to receiving an award will not be reimbursed.
  • Funds cannot be used to cash flow a business.
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Export Internships

Through this program, employers are also able to hire students as export interns to support a company's current or prospective international export efforts. Resources are available through the universities to assist employers in finding qualified interns, to support the student during the export internship, and to assist companies in exporting. Contacts for these resources are found on this page below.

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Who Qualifies? 

Businesses

Eligible Employers

  • Engaged in a targeted industry: bioscience, advanced manufacturing, or information technology,.
  • Employs 500 or fewer employees where a significant portion are employed within Iowa.
  • Pays intern(s) at least twice the minimum hourly wage or more (minimum $14.50/hour).
  • Offers internship(s) to students who meet the outlined eligibility requirements.
  • Offers summer and/or semester internships.
    • Summer internship(s)  are a minimum of 8 weeks (averaging no less than 30 hours per week).
    • Semester internship(s)  are a minimum of 14 weeks (averaging no less than 10 hours per week).
    • Internships are substantive experiences in one or more of the following areas: research and development, engineering, process management and production, product experimentation and analysis, product development, market research, exporting, business planning or administration.

Ineligible Employers

  • Employers engaged in retail sales and/or provide health services.
  • Employers which closes or substantially reduces its workforce by more than 20% at existing operations in order to relocate substantially the same operations to another area of the state are ineligible for 36 months at any of its Iowa sites from the date the new establishment opens. 

Interns

Eligible Interns

  • Employed at an Iowa location.
  • An undergraduate or graduate student at an Iowa community college, private college, or regent university. Graduated from an Iowa high school if attending an institution of higher learning outside of Iowa.
  • Within 1 to 2 years of graduation. 

Ineligible Interns

  • Students who have recently graduated, are no longer current students, or are more than 2 years from graduation.
  • Students who are immediate family members of management employees or board members of the awarded employer.
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How Do I Apply?

  • Due to changes in funding made by the state legislature, the Targeted Industries Internship Program (TIIP) will not open for FY 2025.  Updates for FY26 will be posted to this page. If you have any questions, please contact IWD using the contact information at the bottom of the page.
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Are You a Student in Need of an Internship? 

  • Log into IowaWORKS to browse internship job postings
  • Visit your local IowaWORKS Offices to get connected to a wide array of career services.
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Resouces

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STEM Internship Program

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Contact

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