Chicago Winter/Off Cycle Internships?

I know this has been discussed a bit on here, but each thread seems small and indeterminate for the most part. Also, most are older. So I thought I'd bring it up again.

I'm in a unique postion, whereas I "graduated" in the spring, major in finance, but my school requires 100 hours of relevant work experience in order to finish your degree. So, having no finance work experience, I am actively looking to get my foot in the door. I am looking at summer programs right now, but I'd rather not sit around for the next 8 months. I'd like to get something started right away.

My ultimate goal is the buy side, specifically at a equity long/short or global macro fund. Obviously, that's a ways away, but I want to get started correctly. My location currently is the biggest problem. I am in WI, and there are a total of about 4 hedge funds in the state. I have cold-emailed all of them, still waiting to hear back. My next step is to reach out to any boutique funds/banks in Chicago, but the issue of money worries me. I cannot work for free. Not because I won't, I would in a heartbeat if I could. Rather, I'm broke, have almost no savings (most of my money went to school expenses), and I am on my own financially. I would love to work for free, but I obviously cannot move away from home to Chicago for free. So, that's roughly where I'm at. My main questions are:

1. From what I've heard, unless you're at a bigger MM/BB firm, don't expect payment for an off-cycle internship, at all. Is this true? Do I have any chance of negotiating something otherwise?

2. I am networking my ass off (or attempting to) in order to reach out to a couple MDs at BBs in Chicago, but I highly doubt that anything will come of that within the time frame I have to do this in. Barring that, how acceptable is it to be frank with the HR department at any firm and ask what their policy is for off-cycles? Boutique, MM, or BB?

3. My GPA, due to some personal issues during my second and third years, is not great. This is what I see being my biggest hurdle. I am currently going through a refresher on modeling, basically covering everything. Also read extensively, and did do very well in all finance coursework at my school. Upshot is I have a 3.1 but much more intelligence than I think that number conveys. Am I screwed? This is more general as well, for both off-cycle and summer programs.

Thanks in advance. Wouldn't even know as much as I do now without this place. A shame I've only known about it for 11 months.