I did a one-semester internship while in college. They paid me $2/hour - which was more than the minimum wage at the time and tells you a little about my age. It was a great experience because I attended public meetings and wrote summaries about them for a member of the governor's cabinet. I also examined public utility tariffs and wrote summaries about them for the same person. My supervisor critiqued my writing severely and that made me a much better writer in a very short time. Great experience.
I lived several hundred miles from home for this work and the expenses of living in the city in low-rent housing consumed my paychecks. Full-time internships at my university were for 16 academic credits and I also had to pay full tuition and fees to receive them. I made a few extra bucks from plasmapheresis looks at arms.
In a previous career I worked for a government agency and we had interns every summer and they were paid slightly more than the minimum wage. Our office was in a University city. Although the students didn't have to establish living quarters far away what we paid them barely covered their living expenses and they had to pay tuition to the university for the internship. We knew that the interns would be there in the summer and had projects for them. Many of them did field work that could only be done in summer weather.
In another career I was a professor and saw students complete internships at many government agencies, companies and organizations. The university required a written job description from the employer that needed faculty approval. That helped employers plan the experience and demonstrate that it would meet university expectations and the award of credit hours to the student (which the student had to pay for). The employer knew that at the end of the experience that the student would prepare a report of what was done and faculty would compare that to the job description. About 1/2 of the internships were paid. If you looked at the list of organizations, the ones that paid were usually the good experiences.
(Personal opinion here... If a school does not require an internship then it is usually only the highly motivated students who seek them. If you are drawing from this pool you are probably getting high caliber. However, if the school requires an internship then there can be a lot of mediocre students looking for positions and the applicant pool will be different. If this is your pool, early applicants who have bright eyes and spring in their step are probably your best bet. Be ready to accept applications early. 'nuff said.)
I currently don't have interns at my office. I am trying to run a very small ship and trying to be retired. If I had interns I would pay them the starting rate of a professional employee. I would be especially interested in 4.0 English majors who have a demonstrated life interest in the content area of my websites. If you want them to do valuable work that remains after the internship then you want a good written record. Mine would probably be writing some content and I am really picky. I would need good people for the experience to fit well with me. Thus the better rate of pay.
I think I should write to the White House.