Pre MBA Internship (Unpaid)

This is more of a rant than anything else, but shocked to see how prevalent this is. I get interning a freshman in college unpaid for a summer who has no skillset / is probably a drag on productivity, but have seen a large number of VC funds (some with decent AUM of $100mm+) running unpaid summer internship programs for people starting up their MBAs at top schools. They have criteria (consulting, IB, or other relevant experience) to be met and an interview process, which seems to most of the time include an assignment on a project they are currently working on (more free work). How cheap can you be? If you're trying to get real work out of someone for 3 months, at least pay them minimum wage or a stipend.

Curious to hear others' experience with this if any. Presumably there are takers for this sort of thing. I've interviewed for 2 of these roles only to find out at the end of an hour long interview that the role was unpaid, and they acted as if I shouldn't have expected anything else, even with multiple years of buy side experience at later stage growth equity vs. venture.

Sorry for the rant, just find the whole thing a bit ridiculous.