Cost Effectiveness

So I am no longer in school, which pains me ever so much. Instead of paying to learn cool stuff, I now have to try and apply some of the stuff learned while people pay me. I am not sure about this system.

One of the up and down sides is learning about corporate management. What a bizarre world. My colleagues and I have been discussing our company's insane management structure and coming up with solutions. 

One idea that comes up a lot in our discussion is the use of students. I have had a few internships in the past few years, and the one thing that has been constant is that the firms have made a lot of money off of me.

Students often, in my experience, have been learning new and often innovative ways of doing things, are versed in new time saving technologies, and generally have more energy than older more seasoned workers. All of these things are good because students very often have no clue about what they are doing. 

The internship experience allows the student to be taught in how to apply all of the new theories and gadgets they have learned about. When they return to school the topics discussed have more meaning because the student can figure out how it could be applied in real world situations, can ask more intelligent questions, and become a boon to a classroom.

The company on the other hand gets really cheap intelligent labor. Most internships are part time, at lower than normal rates, but they still bill clients at full rates, roughly three times what the intern is getting paid. So even if it takes the intern twice as long to get something done, if it still gets out on time a profit has been made.

Another bonus is that once the intern does figure out what is going on their productivity skyrockets and they still are making the company lots of money.

So why aren't more companies doing this? My current position had to be fought for by my manager. Most of my company's employees are people who have retired from state government. They have limited technical skill, moderate management skill and were hired mostly for their contacts.

It seems that the smart way to go would be to hire limited people with contacts, and with good management/mentoring skills and a lot of good students to maximize productivity and profit. 

Now this is obviously coming from the mindset of student, but doesn't it make a lot of sense for long term company sustainability?