[Adam Y.]

Not asking for a cost breakdown seems reasonable ... for now. But blindly paying unreasonable prices for a product just because it is quality is not wise. Not to take away from FIRST, but money must go into other quality education also (and don't suggest that FIRST is the only quality education, it just might be one of the better ones ).

Personally its one of the most expensive forms of quality education. I can't think of anything in my school that involves that amount of money. Science Olympiad is probably the only event that can come close to that due to the sheer number of events. Personally I feel that a vast majority of teams have the tools needed to become as competitive as chiefdelphi even though they may not know it. My advisor from 564 managed to bring up two CNC lathes that the school had in storage. They probably dated back from 1980's since they still worked on floppies. One actually works though the other one the computer is working. My school also has an oscillascope that probably still works also. I also found a robot that dated back from the 1980's in some cabinets. Who knows what stuff is lurking in basements, closets, and other areas that teams could use? Learning how to use it is another story. And if that doesn't work you could always buy some cheap chinese imort....