Being "in between" two degrees + conferences participation

[Adelaide9216]

Urgghh. My current uni won't be able to fund my participation to a conference this summer because I will have graduated. My future uni can't fund me because I won't be officially registered yet (I start in September). What can I do? 

[Noegenesis]

15 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Urgghh. My current uni won't be able to fund my participation to a conference this summer because I will have graduated. My future uni can't fund me because I won't be officially registered yet (I start in September). What can I do? 

You can ask the conference if they have any extra funds, ask friends/family for funds, or get a part-time job.

[shadowclaw]

Neogenesis has covered the basics, but to elaborate:

Some conferences offer grants/scholarships to cover fees - check out the conference's website to see if they offer it! If it's far away and you need to fly, that gets dicier, as it's very unlikely that the conference can foot the bill for that.

Getting a part-time job may or may not be a possibility. If you currently have an assistantship, sometimes your contract forbids you from obtaining additional employment. Sometimes it doesn't. You'd need to look into that if you don't know, although if you can earn enough money before the conference at a summer job after you've graduated, this may not be important. It can be hard to find a job for just a few months - most places are looking for long-term employees, although you might be able to find something through a temp agency or something that is summer-only. You can also often find odd jobs and other short-term gigs on Craigslist. I have a friend who started picking up some gigs on Rover... if you like dogs, you might be able to earn some extra cash walking dogs, letting them out to pee during the day, etc. If you don't mind needles, you can also sell your plasma. I know a lot of people who sold plasma to make ends meet. It's kind of a last resort thing and there's always the possibility that you won't be eligible because your veins are too small.

You can also sells things on eBay or to a pawn shop. Not ideal, but if you're like me and hoard random stuff that you haven't used in ages, you might have something that someone might pay good money for that you really won't miss.

And of course you can ask your family and friends. Do a GoFundMe if you need to. My ex-boyfriend funded his move from Pennsylvania to San Francisco with a GoFundMe. I even pitched in. If one of my friends needed money for a conference, I'd donate 20 bucks. Maybe your friends would, too. 

[morawel]

On 1/24/2019 at 1:46 AM, Adelaide9216 said:

Urgghh. My current uni won't be able to fund my participation to a conference this summer because I will have graduated. My future uni can't fund me because I won't be officially registered yet (I start in September). What can I do? 

Many conferences have travel awards you can apply for, or lower registration rates for early career researchers and students (you could probably still consider yourself a student). Some conferences also have tradeoffs where you can volunteer for a few hours and get a fee waiver, or a shared hotel room, or something. Good luck!

[accidental_philologist]

You could also email and ask, especially if this is a graduate student run conference, if there might be someone among the coordinators who you could stay with, should accommodation be an issue. The sooner the better -- I tried this for a conference but they were all already hosting other presenters! 

Also maybe look into something like paper prizes, not necessarily funding strictly earmarked for conferences. The programs I'm associated with at my undergrad all offer end-of-the-year "best student paper" prizes for undergrads and grads, and they tend to be something like $300 cash. If you found other awards for other things like that, you could put the money towards conference travel anyways. 

[Adelaide9216]

I have found funding  Thanks everyone!