To Become Social Workers, Students in NM Expected to Work for Free
Source NM • By Austin Fisher • July 25, 2023
“College students in New Mexico studying to become licensed social workers are required to conduct hundreds of hours of field work in places like schools, prisons, hospitals and clinics.
That requirement is often unpaid labor.
For the estimated 1,500 students enrolled in social work programs at universities across New Mexico, that volunteer time cuts into their mental well-being, family responsibilities and the wages they need to pay for things like rent or tuition. It also delays the work they could do to begin servicing community needs across the state.
In interviews and testimony to lawmakers earlier this month, social work students and their instructors said paid field placements would go a long way to making social work education less of a sacrifice and financial hardship.”
