I seriously should not be trusted with a paycheck. Online shopping is a lifestyle, and unfortunately one that I have become way too entrenched in. If we’re being honest, I totally have Urban Outfitters and Kendra Scott windows open right now — it’s just way too easy to buy things that I don’t necessarily need.

Despite my inherent tendency to spend money on frivolous things (OK, I think it’s totally necessary to have a pair of sandals in three different colors, but not everyone shares my view), I actually had to practice restraining myself over the summer, when I became responsible for Real Adult things like rent and groceries (super lame, I know).

Luckily, I had the opportunity to participate in a great internship program, and even more exciting, it was paid. A paid internship as a college freshman is becoming increasingly elusive and rare, so it was pretty cool to fill out a timesheet, receive a pay stub, and all the fun things that accompany getting paid. However, despite my desire to take the first money I received and hit up LuluLemon or J. Crew or somewhere else unnecessary, I was much more responsible in reality. Boring as it is, I bought some groceries (even vegetables!) and paid rent. Later on in the week, I indulged in eating out, and buying some room décor from Target. In fact, the first clothes shopping trip I took with my newly earned money was to Banana Republic to buy professional clothes — for work.

My point is, it costs money to exist in the professional world, and unpaid internships ignore the stark realities of “the real world,” as much as I hate that arbitrary, dismissive phrase. Unfortunately, working without pay is just not an option for everyone. Landlords don’t care that you have a fancy Capitol Hill internship, or that you work for a top-ranked corporation. Prestige does not pay the bills.

Unpaid internships have become increasingly commonplace in the professional world, the new frontier for the millennial to discover, being manipulated to represent the peak of “hard work” and “dedication.” There is a characterization of the people who take unpaid internships as gracious and hard-working, dedicated and working for the experience — not the money because that would just be superficial and greedy.

Yet the overwhelming influx of unpaid internships remains an intrinsically classist structure. There are a few reasons for this. First and most simply, the lack of pay positions unpaid internships as an opportunity exclusive to those with either cash reserves or the financial support of their parents. In a society where many teenagers are forced to pick up part or full-time jobs to aid their family, the ability to work for free during the summer is simply not an option, thereby jettisoning students with wealthy families to the forefront of the professional world.

Second and oft overlooked, however, is the idea that unpaid internships reinforce the idea that the “have-nots” are lazy and purposefully the way they are. This deepens class divides, further dichotomizing white-collar and blue-collar workers, and intensifying the economic marginalization of low-income students. When the opportunity for unpaid work technically exists, but remains inaccessible, we begin to perceive those unwilling to take them as mercenary, or greedy, or simply “not looking hard enough.” When an entire range of summer opportunities is inaccessible to a wide range of students, the effects of this on income inequality can be massive.

Also, and this is my personal opinion, if someone is doing valuable work for your company, it’s a decent thing to pay them. Of course, non-profit and volunteer work that is done to advance a cause — and I have happily worked unpaid for organizations like these — are an exception to an extent. At the end of the day, if you have the funds, it’s sort of crappy to not pay the people who work for you, even though they may be teenagers.

In this vein, at a certain point, it shouldn’t matter whether your parents can theoretically support you as you pursue unpaid work.

Even if your parents can support you, which I’m sure many are willing and able to do to further their child’s education, there also remains the question of whether that in and of itself is fair. Could I ask my parents for help if my internship in Houston this summer was unpaid? Sure. At the same time, I’m 19 years old, and it’s not necessarily their burden to fund my apartment in a city 1,000 miles away so I can pursue a great internship there while there exist opportunities for me at home.

Unfortunately, the corporate world has characterized unpaid internships as a glamorous and selfless learning opportunity, and I can sort of understand where that’s coming from. At the end of the day, it’s intended to be a learning opportunity for students rather than free labor for the corporation, hence the unpaid structure. That makes sense. Unfortunately, the fact that so many elite opportunities are unpaid, and that these unpaid internships are perceived as prestigious and a “great opportunity” remains painfully ignorant to the realities of the world outside a certain elite sphere.

While you may be learning, in theory, valuable life lessons about the value of hard work or a strong work ethic inspired by internal desire to learn rather than a want for money or whatever, getting paid does not erase this. Being paid — and consequently being forced to stick to a budget — taught me cool things about the value of the dollar, and how hard work translates into benefits. Just because you may receive a paycheck for something does not mean you’re not dedicated to the cause. Have I used some of my summer funds for clothes I definitely don’t need? Of course. Does that diminish or erase the value of the work I did, or how invested I was in the project? Certainly not.

Of course, if your parents, or some other avenue of revenue, are willing and ready to support you, unpaid internships can be an awesome experience. There are merits to the learning experience, which I’m sure some companies wouldn’t be able to provide if they were forced to pay their interns. However, contextualize the issue. For me, five weeks (which is short as far as internships go) in Houston cost me approximately $1,000 in rent, plus groceries, plus random housekeeping stuff (plus money I spent doing regular social college student things, like going out for food). Maybe my situation was unique since I worked in a different state than where my hometown is, but in 2016, it’s really not that anomalous. Unpaid internships are not only the cash forgone from a paid job, but also the money (gas, food, clothes) spent on maintaining the unpaid one. When internships are considered the stepping stones to careers, it’s important to consider the obstacles to access for everyone, and how this affects equality on a large scale.