[Jonathan Norris]

wow WPI is reimbursing travel costs... $2,500 scholarship to Chairmans winning students. Some interesting precedents being set by this new regional, can't complain that the university is willing to pump a lot of money into FIRST and the regional. But i'm not sure if reimbursing team travel costs is the best way to do it, it sets a precedent that many (most) other regionals won't be able to match.

I know there are probably regionals struggling to find enough financing to run their regional every year. I would prefer if WPI went more of the NASA route in providing financing to teams, because giving every team attending your regional money to travel to your regional is a big incentive that will lure many teams away from other regionals. I'm not sure if I want this to be allowed, I don't want regionals to have to compete for teams to attend. I would rather have WPI support teams in their area, but not by making teams attend their regional to receive funding.

I know WPI is a big sponsor of FIRST, yes I know WPI supports many local teams. I am just stating that I am not comfortable with them providing financing for teams to travel to their regional, when most other regionals will not be able to do so. Especially when they make it sound like financing will be available to every team.