Got zero connections and attend the University of Hickville? Not a problem.

The world of what money can buy has just expanded. There’s now such a thing as internship placement firms. That’s right — those shit jobs that typically pay nothing — well now kids are paying for a chance at them, to the tune of $6,000.

Of course banking internships are not quit so shitty. Which is all the reason why they’re hard to get. But even the vaunted Bulge Bracket Summer Internship seems for sale.

The University of Dreams is one firm providing internship placement. Newsweek reports that the Bay Area-based firm, fittingly located in the upscale Los Gatos, helps kids like Harsh Agarwal, a Washington University student.

“[I]t was the connections promised by University of Dreams that sold [Agarwal] and his family. With the placement firm’s help, Agarwal landed an internship at Merrill Lynch during his sophomore year. It was a summer spot typically snagged by older students, often from the Ivy League. Agarwal says he tried working with his career center, but in the end University of Dreams was the only service that could guarantee such a prime position … He returned to University of Dreams for a second summer and right out of college began a career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.” (emphasis added)

For $6k, a bulge job is not all. The University of Dreams, which has programs in several cities, provides NYC interns (incidentally, the NYC program costs $7,999) with weekend programming, in case you need some paid friends, too. Activities include Broadway and comedy shows, Central Park, etc, etc.

Banks on the employers list include AXA, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Smith Barney and UBS, among others. Non-finance firms include NBC, Google, Ogilvy & Mather and Time.

So what’s with the banks that are using this service? Sounds to me like a case of the lazys has hit the HR departments. Says one entertainment co. recruiter, “We just have one more person that can verify these kids are interested, that they want to get into the company and get exposure.”

One commenter on the Newsweek article characterized the users of the service of “spoiled brats”, but typically those kids have parents who ARE connected and can get them these jobs for free. Seems more something that helps kids of the unconnected middle class.

Also: since recruiting and relationships with the best firms are one of the major draws of MBA programs, (and for some overachievers, undergraduate schools), I’d be interested in seeing whether this type of service in some way supplants the need for B-school.