I found my original birth certificate this morning. All that remains for me to organise my passport are photos and $208. The photos are easy, $13 and a trip to the Post Office before Wednesday. The $208 is the hard part. I will have to call the Post Office and ask if they'll let the interview go ahead or will I need to reschedule when I do have the money.
As for other money for the trip, Sal and I have been working on ways we can maximise our budget between now and then. We think we've got a pretty good plan, it just requires no unforeseen expenditures popping up (with two kids, this could be a challenge in itself).
"Send a poor project developer to a conference" fund.
I'd donate to that.
matt
It sounds like you are in a fairly bad finical bind. Even if you are room sharing you'll probably end up going over the scholarship amount. Look at around $2000 AUD for the flight, and $280-300 AUD/night for accommodation (halve this for twin-share).
Then there are food costs (allow $30 USD/day for dinner, plus more for non-conference days). Travel costs to and from airport (allow $30 USD if you go via BART, more if via Taxi). Another $30 for drinks/food while at the airport (you are there waiting for around 3 hours). And other costs (such as touristy stuff).
I was around $500 over my scholarship amount last year (without the touristy stuff, as I did that the previous time). And that doesn't include prezzies!
CSU will cover food with Travel allowance, I think. I'm waiting to hear back from them.