[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by breimerCIO

Our team really lets nobody travel completely free. Every team member has to pay $200 and the mentors have to pay for their hotel and food. The rest of the cost is covered by sponsors and other money that the team has made. This has always worked for us and I think that is a pretty way to do it. I don't think anybody should get to travel for completely free. I think that is asking too much of the people that actually do all the work.

Ideally, your team's budget should cover competition travel expenses for a core or "travelling" team. This core team might include only a handful of students and the mentors. Maybe these are the people that do "all the work"?

I don't believe mentors should feel obligated to pay for all (maybe even any) of their travel costs. Keep in mind that in the "real world", professionals typically don't pay for job-related travel expenses. Transportation, lodging, meals and certain miscellaneous expenses are reimbursed according to their travel report that usually requires receipts. If you work for the US Govt., i.e. NASA, the amount of "per diem" is limited by federal (GSA) rates. A good business plan should require a team to raise funds to cover these travel expenses not just registration fees and money to buy spare parts, tools and materials. Still, a lot of mentors are willing to pay their own travel expenses and maybe even help other team members financially.

Most teams really want to to get as many members to FIRST events as possible. To make the travel affordable, teams may travel by bus, find deeply-discounted airfares, get group rates at modest hotels, etc. Parents (who are not mentors) are usually expect to cover for their own travel expenses. This is no different than for the parents who choose to travel to "away" high school sporting events. Many teams require all students to bring money for meals and incidental expenses. Mentors will generally pay for their meals as well.

How many people travel for free and how much should other people pay? That's going to depend very much on where you're going, as well as the size, composition and resources of the team. It's not going to be a level playing field. The same is true for building the robots.