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Originally Posted by EStokely
Not a perfect solution yet....
More fuel for discussion.
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YET?? There is no perfect solution. I'm still agast at teams stating they need $20,000 to run a team. We started with $6000 in 2001 and did one competition and the students loved it. We still struggle to raise $10,000 a year - This may be the year we go back to doing one competition. And as far as traveling expenses go, students have to pay, its that simple. They have to pay if they go on a band trip, football camp, etc... Currently 90% of the $$ we raise goes directly to the reg fees, since we have acquired lots of extra materials over the years. Fundraising needs to be creative and parents need to be involved to continue to participate in FIRST. We never had a large corporate sponsor (and thus never lost one), so I guess it's easier for me take...
I agree with those who say to modify the KOP to reduce costs. Rookies (1-2 yr) get them, Vet Teams (> 2 yr) get some vouchers or coupons. Maybe just open up the motor rules entirely - say any 12 VDC motor rated under 300 W (max 6). Let the rookies learn with some different types given in their KOP. Maybe the only identical item every team gets is the InnovationFirst control system. Whatever the solution is, I think it will need to be fairly drastic to seriously reduce costs. I find it hard to respond to parents who ask what the $10,000 in reg fees is going towards. It doesn't go to the regional competitions, and the KOP isn't worth that much! I know that it takes a lot of effort and work by very qualified people to make FIRST run, it's just hard to convince parents of this.
my 2cnts