UC students cash in on co-op jobs

How it works: A co-op isn't simply a fancy name for an internship.

• Students take paid jobs built into academic programs.
• In some programs, multiple rotations can add up to as much as 1 1/2 years of work experience before graduation.
• UC has offered this for more than 100 years, but the program has continued to evolve and expand.

By the numbers: Students earned $99.5 million through paid co-ops last school year, per UC, up 6% from the previous year.

• Students earned an average of $13,130 per co-op semester and $21.89 an hour.

Zoom in: Jeremy Ackley tells Axios he chose UC largely because of its co-op program.

• The architectural engineering student completed multiple co-op rotations with engineering consulting firm CMTA in Boston and Dallas, then joined the company full time after graduating in 2025.
• He's one of 12 former co-ops hired by CMTA's Cincinnati office over the past decade, CMTA president Kevin Mussler tells Axios.

What they're saying: "Academic and career growth is clearly top of mind for our students, and experiential learning is a big part of that," says Emilee Suchomski, UC's director of recruitment.

• "Co-op is one of the top things we talk about when we're on the road, especially as we travel farther from Cincinnati."

For Ackley, the value proposition was pretty simple.

• "I didn't want a resume that only listed a degree."