[tr6scott]

We used to have a fee of $200 per student. We also had a plan in place to not deny access to the team, if you could not pay. We were also getting support from school for cost of registration. Team did not pay for travel, we competed in Michigan District system, so we had access to local competitions. Almost 100% of funding went for robot parts.

Two years later we were told by the administration we were not a pay-to-play school district, so we could not charge a per student fee. We were also told that our fund raiser of manning a state licensed charity poker room, (on two weekends a year buy adults over 21 years of age) would not be allowed, as it didn't look good for the school to be associated with Gambling. (In Michigan where schools are funded by a state lotto?) These were tough blows to the program.

Fortunately, We picked up some GREAT corporate sponsors, first with a NASA grant for veteran teams who had lost funding, then with Chrysler.

Last year we were able to support some student travel costs, for the first time, and we were able to support our local FLL teams, and FTC team with funds from our great sponsors.