I come from a unique perspective where I was once standing in your shoes. I felt like I had a lot of talent and that I should be getting paid for my work. However, what I quickly realized that saying I wanted to work and telling them I had the ambition to do great things wasn't enough. In short, Ambition and Drive didn't sign paychecks. Fortunately I got up to speed and took a few unpaid, for-experience-only positions first to demonstrate my value and ambition and then the paid internships started rolling in. The funny thing about this world is that you get exactly what you give…and if you're patient, you can uniquely position yourself for success!

Pretend for a minute that you are a hiring manager and put yourself in their shoes. A university student walks into your office for a posted, unpaid internship position with your company. They have no applicable work experience, a small works portfolio at best, and they say that they are really interested in becoming the world's most fabulous fill-in-the-blank. You will have to not only take out time from your busy schedule to train them, but you have no real way to guarantee that the work they will get done will be of any presentable quality. They then ask for a $15-$20 an hour (even though the job posting said 'unpaid') because…well, they have the drive and ambition! Would you hire them then? ...I didn't think so!

Here's a few important things to keep in mind:
-Just because you're not being paid in dollars and cents doesn't mean that you're not getting paid in other ways. Internships are a two-way street: You are being groomed for a job or industry. It is the experience that you have to pay with your time, instead of dollars (like tuition, for instance).
-Don't value yourself too highly. That doesn't mean that you should strive to get paid what you're worth, but know what you're really worth before you ask for a wage, stipend, pay, etc.
-If you aren't willing to bet on your own performance, why should they? Taking on the risk of an internship and knowing that it may not pan out into full blown employment is an admirable risk to take and demonstrates a commitment that you are willing to make.
-Take advantage of your unpaid internship by cross-training in as many aspects of their business or position as possible. You will not only show initiative, motivation and drive (what you probably mentioned at your interview),  but you will also walk away with that internship with valuable on-the-job training that you can now list on your resume or demonstrate your proficiency in.
-Know that nothing is guaranteed. That, of course, is more of a philosophical discussion and we'll go into that later!

Oh, and that first unpaid internship? Mine was with the Special Olympics -- I designed a one-off logo for their Winter Games. My "payment" was building a positive rapport with my faculty (the people who recommended me for the position) and getting a lot of press coverage for it. Shortly after that I got three more paid internships that year…which catapulted my marketability in the job market. (Hey, I started my job hunt in a recession too!)