Nikki Gillingham  //  November 16, 2012 For many students, the valuable, professional experience and connections of a co-operative education program are worth every penny. For others, the amount of 'pennies' paid for the program is questionable. At Mount Saint Vincent University, a school known for its co-op program, expenses for the opportunity to gain work experience before graduating range in the thousands. The Bachelor of Public Relations program includes three co-op work terms at $1,178 a piece. Each work term counts as 1.0 credit units. Hospitality and Tourism Management students, and Business students (who are not automatically entered into the co-op program, but apply in their second year), also have a co-op work term at the same price. Applied Human Nutrition has an optional 'internship' at $1,214.50 per credit unit for three units.  A fun fact here: While the BPR, Business, and Tourism co-ops are all paid, the Nutrition internship and the upcoming Science Communication internship (which costs the same as the BPR, Business, and Tourism co-ops) are not. Paying $1,178 to be able to go on a four month work term can seem pricey. For students who are looking forward to receiving a pay check, it can be disheartening to have an entire one (or more) go towards tuition when it seems as though you are not even in classes. "I'm sorry," says BPR co-op student Jessie Lawrence, "but $3,300 total? That's a lot of money to a student [...] The benefits are worthwhile, and I'm obviously paying them