I think that is just Bay Area and/or tech bias. My own internship years ago started at $15 and quickly scaled up. I was going to community college at that time. *typoed
Ok, in support of your point, I got my BSc Comp Sci in 2011, have previous professional experience, and I'm really just working full time for two months while on grad-school vacation. So while I'm justifiably not paid as much as the real full-time engineers here, I'm more valuable to the company (I would hope!) than an average college sophomore doing his/her first internship in his/her own profession.
Again: anecdotal evidence, disregard that I suck bananas, etc.
Again: anecdotal evidence, disregard that I suck bananas, etc.