The Microsoft Partner Program has brought their Students to Business program to the United States.  Originally it piloted in Italy and is now available here.

Who wouldn't want hard working labor that works for peanuts?  Seriously though, this is a great opportunity for both the students, businesses, and Microsoft.  This allows students to get valuable experience which will increase their value after graduation.  Businesses get the value of inexpensive labor and a possible new employee.  And lastly, Microsoft gets to ingrain the young on how important Microsoft is to the business world.

On several occasions, I've talked to several Microsoft Developer Evangelists about having some sort of internship program here in conjunction with the Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group and the University of Arkansas .Net User Group.  Unfortunately it takes some effort, but a majority of development companies will gladly hire interns from local colleges and universities.  If those of us in the dev community can take advantage of this, it will help fuel our developer economy.  Because remember, students can't get experience needed  for a job if employers are only hiring people with experience.  So, the ultimate goal is to get the new students experience that way we help fuel our economy and the use and need of programmers.

You can find out more about this program at http://www.microsoft4me.com/career/s2b/.