[tennispro9911]

Businesses do what is best for them. In many cases, businesses sponsor FIRST because it produces engineers that have a favorable opinion of the companies that sponsor them. The real world isn't sugarcoated as Cory said.

EDIT: This isn't a bad thing. We shouldn't look at this as unGP. NI is not making any money selling us the controllers, but they are fostering relationships hopefully. It is the same thing as Autodesk giving us Inventor. It is the same thing as businesses giving discounts to students. Businesses want to foster lifelong relationships with customers, and if they can do it while the customer is in college, then all the better for them. At the same time, we get to experience their product, and save lots of money doing it. If we decide to do business with them in the future because we are very satisfied with their product then we also have gained from the experience.

Businesses look out for their own interests, but often when a business looks out for its own interest in the long term, it also benifits the community in the long term.