[dtengineering]

It varies from year to year, and we have never placed a student in the situation where they were unable to be on the team, have a t-shirt, or go on a trip for financial reasons.

However, we do charge students for a T-shirt, and for part of the cost of travelling to a regional. Typically a "local" regional... Portland or Seattle, for instance, is about $150 for bus and hotel, while going to Toronto or elsewhere would involve a bit more cash.

This year students had the opportunity to offset their "robotics" expenses, by selling Hexbugs. Our top seller was able to offest $80 of her $150 travel expenses. (Although as has been pointed out elsewhere, the real money in Hexbugs comes from selling spare batteries... I was a bit slow to clue in to that one.)

But the bottom line is, no one gets left behind for financial reasons.

Jason