Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris is me
Is that really necessary?
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Yes.
Have you been to the DMV? Filled out a tax return (or tried to)? It's a bureaucracy (I wouldn't even want to know the red tape hoops people have to jump through to even get the grant money allocated and approved for distribution to FIRST teams), and with a bureaucracy comes a lot of added rules and requirements - many of them make sense, some might make you scratch your head, but they are there, nonetheless, and applicants better take them seriously.
This is not like some school essay for which you can plead for a time extension, extra credit opportunities, or negotiate for a higher grade even though you turned in incomplete work.
The fact that a significant number of veteran teams receive Program Growth grants at all (as was the case last year anyway - and we were one of the veteran recipients) is evidence that 1st and 2nd year teams are failing to snag all the opportunities meant primarily for them - and at least part of that reality can certainly be attributed to some teams' failure to follow the detailed application guidelines (other factors would be not enough teams applying, and legit applicants rejected based on the content of their submission).