Does your team charge a fee to join?

[mrnoble]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

In this thread, I'm a little bit surprised by the number of teams that have such requirements which seem to (perhaps not deliberately) exclude less fortunate students. What a luxury it must be (for the teams) to be able to charge a fee for participation, but what an unfortunate circumstance it would be for that really bright kid who does not come from a family of wealth, and whose family does not have $200 or even $20 to spend for him or her to join.

Perhaps things are just different outside of California...

There's always more to the story. Our school has a foundation that pays for everything from books and AP test fees to project and travel costs for students that lack means; students can contract to work at a rate of $10/hr for the school (usually helping teachers out in the classroom), with the "money" coming in the form of paid fees. I also have years of experience that tell me kids treat free stuff with less respect than things in which they have invested, so regardless of the means each student has, it's good for them to have some literal buy in, I think. And I have had students on my team who ranged from homeless to wealthy.