Financial Aid

<!-- Financial Aid FAQ ------------------------- <span class="label label-note">Questions?</span> Check out our <a href="/2017/financial-assistance/faq/">FAQ page</a><br> and our blog post about <a href="http://pycon.blogspot.com/2017/02/financial-aid-deadline-is-february-15.html">International Travel</a>. <!-- We have the below section twice on this page. Commenting out for now. <span class="label label-note">Questions?</span> Please don't hesitate to email: [pycon-aid@python.org](mailto:pycon-aid@python.org "pycon-aid@python.org") --> Timeline ----------------- - 2016 October 14: Financial aid application opens. - 2017 February 15: Financial aid applications close. - 2017 March 3: Financial aid grants awarded. - 2017 March 30: deadline to respond to accept / decline financial aid ## Philosophy/Outreach Everyone — even the conference chair — pays for PyCon registration. That way, we can assist those who might otherwise not be able to attend. This includes major diversity and outreach programs through [PyLadies](http://www.pyladies.com/) and [Python User Groups](http://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups) to attract new speakers, students, and attendees. PyCon has a large financial aid program, providing funds to help people attend PyCon. Financial aid recipients have some part of their expenses (which can include travel, hotel, registration, and childcare) paid for with the PyCon budget. We actively encourage people to apply for financial aid. The PSF welcomes and encourages applications from students. While we wish we could give grants to everyone who applies, we do not have the funds to do that. Our goal is to get the most people to PyCon by optimizing the funds we have. Optimal is, of course, an ambiguous property. - Since PyCon is the largest Python conference in the world, it's a meeting place for Python developers from all around the globe. Therefore, the process is particularly designed to benefit people that we believe make PyCon better, particularly speakers and tutorial presenters, as well as notable open source contributors. - Additionally, the process attempts to promote a more diverse PyCon. While encouraging diversity is a broad effort, we're happy to say that the financial aid program has been a important factor in our results so far. - Finally, the process tries to help people with relatively lower incomes, be it because of their location (lower income countries) or their profession (such as students, or the unemployed). In short, we use the financial aid budget to help individuals who would otherwise not be able to attend the conference. The financial aid program is about the community nurturing itself by making itself more accessible at PyCon. It is true to the spirit of PyCon, by helping to make the information and interactions available to everyone. The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a [diverse](http://www.python.org/psf/diversity/) and international community of Python programmers. We believe that the financial aid program is aligned with these goals. We are happy to say that most years, we end up exceeding our official Financial Aid bud­get. If it looks like it will reasonably make for a better conference, we will gladly overspend on financial aid and take less “profit” for the conference. **Please note**: Disbursement of funds will be onsite during the conference, by check only, in USD. No funds will be disbursed prior to the event. Only those that have filed their disbursements will be allowed to pick up a check. Checks can be cashed at any local branch of the Bank of America. <!-- **To submit a financial aid application**, <a href="/2016/account/signup/">sign up</a> or <a href="/2016/account/login/">log in</a> to your account and proceed to the **Financial Aid** section of your <a href="/2016/dashboard/">account dashboard</a>! --> <span class="label label-note">Questions?</span> Please don't hesitate to email: [pycon-aid@python.org](mailto:pycon-aid@python.org "pycon-aid@python.org")