The Degree Plus program is a grant-funded initiative by the Lumina Foundation and supported by the UC Office of the President. It offers free professional certificate courses and a paid internship to undergraduate students at UCSB who are within two years of graduation.
To the best of our knowledge, these are some hospitals accepting unaffiliated child life student interns:
What does unaffiliated internship mean?
Please note that this list is subject to change.
Please refer to the official UCSB PaCE policy article to determine whether you qualify as an affiliated student.
If you meet the criteria—specifically, successful completion of five Child Life courses through UCSB PaCE and maintaining good academic standing—and you receive an internship offer from a hospital that does not currently have an affiliation agreement with UCSB, the following steps must be taken:
Notify the Internship Coordinator immediately upon receiving the offer by emailing help@professional.ucsb.edu.
Provide contact information for the hospital and the appropriate site representative.
The Program Manager will initiate communication between the hospital and UCSB’s legal counsel to explore the possibility of establishing an affiliation agreement. Please be advised that this process may require several months (i.e., 6 months) to complete.
Please note that the affiliation agreement process with UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) may take an extended period of time due to internal review procedures and institutional requirements. While we make every effort to support student placement requests, the completion of an agreement is not guaranteed. We recommend initiating the process as early as possible to allow adequate time for review and approval. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
We are currently affiliated with:
We are working with our legal counsel in exploring additional affiliation agreements.
If you are interested in applying to a site that requires an affiliation please contact help@professional.ucsb.edu
Feel free to explore these hospital sites accepting applications for unaffiliated students.
*Please note UCSB PaCE is unable to secure affiliation agreements with following sites at this time:
Duke Children's Hospital
UNC Children’s Hospital
In order to be affiliated with UCSB PaCE, students must have met the following requirements:
*** If you have not completed a minimum of 5 courses at UCSB PaCE PRIOR to the start of your internship, YOU WILL NOT be considered affiliated. This may jeopardize your internship opportunity.
Myth #1: Child life courses offered at UCSB PaCE do not award any academic units.
Fact #1: Within the limitations prescribed by various colleges and schools, credit earned in the Child Life courses may be accepted toward the B.A., B.S., or in post-graduate programs. However that determination is made exclusively by the receiving college/school/institution. We highly recommend that students discuss any transfer credit questions with their Department Advisor before enrolling in any PaCE courses. Learn more about credit transfer.
Myth #2: Child life courses offered at UCSB PaCE won't count towards the CCLS coursework requirements.
Fact #2: All UCSB PaCE child life courses are pre-approved by ACLP. This means we have received approval and validation from ACLP.
Myth #3: UCSB PaCE it not accredited.
Fact #3: As PaCE is a part of UCSB, our program is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).
UCSB Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE) does not offer internship opportunities. Students are responsible for securing internship.
By enrolling in Open University (available in Fall, Winter and Spring quarters), you can take UCSB courses without a formal admission at UCSB. Enrollment is dependent on space availability. Please note that enrollment approval is ultimately at the Academic Department's discretion.
Starting in Winter 2025, we made some modifications to the Open University enrollment process. Please follow the below instructions exactly as they are listed.
Procedures For Requesting Disability Services for PaCE Programs/courses
Step 1: As early as possible before any instruction begins, contact us at help@professional.ucsb.edu with your written request for Disability Services detailing the specific need and the course/s you need the special services for.