[apm4242]

DonRotolo and Meredith Novak - Thanks for the advice - especially about contacting local government reps. I hadn't considered this and it's definitely worth looking into!

marccenter - Yeah, the breakdown can add up. We approached the budgeting in the same way we approach robot design - as efficient and cheap as possible. Three students are going, mentors pay most of their own way, we're sharing a bus with 2 other teams, we're staying at a hotel that provides breakfast, we pack light - 90% of the pit shipped with the robot, and all students pull double, and sometimes triple, duty - drive team members are scouts, safety captains, pit crew, etc. We just couldn't rationalize asking for money if there was any overhead or superfluousness in the budget.

JesseK and CindiCC - I can't thank you enough for your incredible kindness and generosity! Stories like JesseK's are exactly why I mentor at Fresh Start.