[bardd]

We do not charge either. Our philosophy is based on the students. The team is for students and by the students, and as such it doesn't seem right to take money from students.

As I see it, there are three reasons to charge members:

1. For the team's budget, to help the team run and make sure nothing is missing because they can't afford it. I believe this reason isn't good enough, unless a team is in dire need, because all teams (as far as I'm aware) have sponsors of some form, and if their sponsors don't give them all the money and/or equipment they need, they can probably find more funders or hold a fundraiser of some sort. In short, money is almost always within reach if you try hard enough.

2. To reduce the number of dropouts ("I already spent the money, I might as well stay so it won't be wasted"). I find this reasoning flawed. First of all, I believe FRC and FIRST is first about education and then about the competition (as FIRST themselves state). If someone joins the team, comes to one lecture and three work sessions, and decides he had enough, it's fine by me. I would of course preferred it had he stayed and took part, but as it is, he has one lecture and three work sessions under his belt that he wouldn't have gained otherwise. Secondly, when someone stays in the team because he paid money, he doesn't have the motivation to take part and participate, and that's not the kind of people I would want to work with undertaking the hugh mission of an FRC season.

3. For students to show ambition and will to participate. I firmly believe you don't want to limit the people who join the team to people with great desire to participate, for two reasons: one, most people joining the team would probably be people who already know FIRST (through FLL, through family etc.). That doesn't really help spreading FIRST and it's values - you reach less people who don't know it. The second reason is my personal experience - when I joined the team I was probably one of the least ambitious people joining. Now I'm the mechanical leader and one of the most dedicated people on the team. If our team had registration fee, I wouldn't know a thing about FIRST, let alone my family, friends, not so few people on the street etc. There are other great examples of people like me. Registration fees deter people like me - who start with no ambition but have potential (if I can say so myself).