Every year, thousands of Master of Social Work (MSW) students in New York complete nine hundred hours or more of mandatory field education, unpaid labor that is required to graduate and become licensed. While MSW students provide essential services across the State, many must juggle multiple low-wage jobs and take on significant student debt to meet the demands of their field placements. By contrast, other professions requiring field education, such as teaching and medicine, receive paid internships or structured residency stipends.

 Payment for Placements (P4P) advances racial, gender, and economic justice by breaking down barriers to entering the social work profession. It diversifies the field by enabling students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds to complete their degrees and supports gender pay equity since the majority of social work students are women. By allowing students to reduce outside work hours and choose placements based on community need rather than financial necessity, P4P encourages a workforce that better reflects the communities it serves.

S7894 (Salazar) and A9379 (Simon) create a four year pilot program administered by the Office of Mental Health beginning in Fall 2025. This pilot will: 

● Provide $4,500 stipends (equivalent to $10 per hour) for the first 450 hours of required MSW field work.

 ● Require students to complete their placements in New York and commit to one year of post-graduation work in the State.

 ● Collect annual data on enrollment, diversity, debt levels, retention, and workforce outcomes.

 ● Conduct a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate program effectiveness and propose recommendations for expansion.