The Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation has announced grants totaling $5.2 million to forty colleges and universities in four states to help provide paid internships to students with financial need.

Through the organization's Career Ready Internship grant program, institutions in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio will receive grants ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 to create, in collaboration with local businesses and nonprofits, paid internships and convert existing unpaid internships into paid opportunities. The internships created through the initiative are expected to give juniors and seniors with financial need real-world experience within their field of study and a better chance at competing with their wealthier peers for jobs after graduation.

The program builds on an earlier $2.5 million pilot involving nineteen Wisconsin colleges and universities which found that having a paid internship greatly improved a student's odds of either re-enrolling the next semester or graduating.

"We place a premium on ideas that work, and our Career Ready Internship grants help level the playing field for students who receive financial aid," said Great Lakes president and CEO Richard D. George. "This program has the added benefit of developing relationships of lasting value between colleges and employers."

For a complete list of colleges receiving 2014-15 Career Ready grants, visit the Great Lakes website.