[kibibyte]

I have seen a lot of posts and advice like this about increasing your starting salary by negotiating with your recruiter. However, I am a college student looking for an internship. How much of a negotiating position would I have? Is it even advisable for me to try negotiating, considering that I'm only a college intern?

[mmavnn]

Yes. Be polite, have an accurate view of what your time is worth and be open about what you're asking and why.

People may not want (or have the authority) to change the deal, but if they are offended by you asking you do not want to work with them. It implies they are looking for a drone, not a real human being.

I've worked in several local government jobs in the UK, where budget (and 'Single Status payscale') constraints mean that the hiring manager normally doesn't have the authority to change the salary offered. Just asking the question has still given me an invaluable insight into the manager's way of thinking.

[rmc]

Can you programme FizzBuzz? If so, then you could consider getting a paying job.

Unless you really, really want to work at $BIG_COMPANY, and you could only get an internship with them, or you are only looking for something for 3ish months. If you are looking for 'experience' and you have a year, get a paying job.

[kibibyte]

I'm looking for 3-month internships currently. I suppose that it wouldn't be advisable in this case, would it?