Stupid funding!

So, as I said, my 'birthday present' from the university was a letter refusing my funding application to go overseas. I wasn't too upset about it, I figured taht I would do some lab work here, and then do my fieldwork, and do the final batch of labwork overseas next year.

The only issue with this is that we've sent some equipment overseas for a service, and it hasn't even reached the palce eyt to be fixed up. Which means that it might be too late for me to get out into the field (if it gets cold there's nothing I can do!). So I started looking for alternative funding, and found that 99% of sources are only for postdocs or staff members. alowly PhD student, particularly one like me who skipped masters and thus has very little by way of credentials (I have 1 conference presentation, no publications and very little experience, just a bunch of prizes for being a good student).

It's been really stressful! The issue is also that I've always hated asking for money. I watch those TV shows where kids demand money frmo their parents, and wonder how on earth they do that! I've worked part-time from when I was 18, and I had holiday jobs from at least 3 years before that. Plus, I refuse to fund the entire thing myself. It's not my job, or my father's job to pay for me to do work that will help the university (it will help me as well, which is why I'm prepared to apy for some of it, but not more than 1/4 of what I need.

I just hate the red tape. I understand that there are a lot of people who want funding, but the fact that they won't even consider an application from a student drives me nuts! The students are the ones who do research almost all the time, we have a lower teaching load so we can get our projects done (although it can get pretty high). Plus wanting to graduate motivates us to publish, which makes out supervisors look good, which gets them more funding. And the government subsidises the university for each student they have, and for each student that graduates. Which makes me really confused as to why they're so much happier to fund people who are being paid a salary than to fund people who pay to BE there!

Fun times!