[Jeremy Roberts]

I also think we should have as many teams at Nationals as possible. If it were up to me and FIRST had the resources every team would be there. There are so many great teams which we do not get to see. Unfortunatly this is not the case.

I do not think lending or sharing points is the answer though. An alternative could be allowing semi-finalists and maybe even quarter finalists to attend and if this still does not fill nationals then open it up to teams with the highest # points under the amount needed to qualify (I think this was done last year, but I'm not sure).

Winning is not everything and FIRST has always pushed the fact that it is the experience you get out of the time spent working on the project and the people you interact with that makes it all worth while. Even though this is how I feel I think the competition/win aspect still plays a role and is important to many teams if only for the "prestige" factor.