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After this semester, the business-software giant SAP America Inc. of Newton Square, Pennsylvania, is putting its internship program on hold, eliminating paid, on-the-job training for as many as 100 students a year.

"I'm glad I got in before things got bad," said 20-year-old Kelly Pitcher, a junior accounting major at Widener University who worked in the accounts-payable department.

As fear stalks the job world, the crumbling economy is poised to claim yet another set of innocent victims, according to college and labor experts: students seeking work experience to go along with the book smarts.

With many families facing hard times and the financial-aid budgets of colleges stretched, interest in co-ops has grown as students look for help with expenses and an edge in landing jobs after graduation. Like short-term apprentices, they apply what they've learned in class to the real world under the tutelage of experienced workers.

Nationally, participation in co-ops and internships has grown about 10 percent in the last five years, earning $8 to $15 per hour, said Peggy Harrier, manager of the Cooperative Education and Internship Association. More than 4,000 colleges in the United States offer some form of work program.

But as the labor market tightens, industries laid low by the financial wreckage are nipping student workers from their weakened budgets.

"We're already starting to see a loss of co-op positions," Harrier said. "We expect a roughly 15 percent decline through the end of the academic year," particularly in the areas of manufacturing, engineering and hospitality.

While some evidence presents a grim picture,  optimists see a sliver of hope for students looking for experience in an anemic job market, which saw new claims for unemployment benefits jump this month to a 16-year high. Companies that can't afford to hire full-time workers may take on more undergraduates at a fraction of the cost.

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