I did an internship in the state legislature as a class in college. Yes, I paid for the credits, and was expected to do as much work as I would for a regular 3-4 credit class, about 15 hours a week for 9-10 weeks. I had an academic adviser, and I had to submit a paper about legislation that I followed through the semester. The senators and representatives really were allowing us to follow them around because they thought it was the right thing to do, to train us, to show us government. I think they filled out a survey at the end for our course but made no other reports and didn’t provide supervision. They did have us doing a little bit of grunt work too, mostly just to keep us busy and it was nothing they wouldn’t do themselves - get coffee, make copies, run things over to the secretary of state or pick something up they forgot at home (I had a local rep). No prima donnas, everyone was a grunt, including the legislators.
Law students are paid to be interns at the big firms during the summers. They are wined and dined and paid. It is a cushy job that many would do for free just to get a foot in the door. Nope. They must pay ‘interns’.
There are many people who would work for less than minimum wage, who would PAY to be an intern to the rich and famous, who don’t want or need the college credit. Too bad because we have laws against that. TV stations and movie studios and rock bands and NFL teams could have an entire staff working for free and calling them all interns if it were allowed. It needs to be controlled, so it is. People would pay their own way to Silicon Valley and work for free just to get in the door. Nope, nope nope.