🚀 go-pugleaf

        There hasn't been a lot of talk here lately, so I hope people are
still paying attention.  We're having a problem here that we've never had
before.  We are a non-MSTP program, that provides seven years of full
funding with stipend.  However, one of our students just finished his third
year as a PhD student, and is NOT done with his project.  His advisor lost
his grants, so can't support him; the department doesn't have enough money
to pay him; and he can't get loans because he is (a) a grad student, not
qualifying for some loans, and (b) not American, so he doesn't qualify for
others.
        So he is currently screwed.  He can't finish his PhD without money.
 If he goes back to med school without getting the PhD, he not only
forfeits all the funding for 3rd and 4th years, but has to pay back they
money they've spent on him so far.
        We're trying to argue with the administration to get him emergency
money or something.  However, he and his advisor are not getting along well
(as you can imagine), and so there's not a lot of sympathy for him
personally ("this wouldn't have happened to a GOOD graduate student").

        I'd like to ask everyone out there if they have any ideas.  What
arguments can we use to convince them that this MD/PhD should be funded?
Has anyone out there had a similar experience? Are there any external
sources of funding available here?

Thanks in advance,

Josh Goldstein
4/7(?) Molecular Biology
University of Connecticut Health Center
josh@panda.uchc.edu