Worlds Cost

[prasvpatel]

Hey guys,
Our team 5428 won the Rookie All Star award and we are coming to compete at worlds. We were just wondering how much does it cost to go to worlds as a whole team and per individual.

[Steven Smith]

First off, congratulations on your win!

Registration is $5000. If you received any start-up grant money, you might check with the granting organization. Some of them have clauses that will pay for your championship registration if you qualify to attend.

On top of that, you will of course be responsible for travel, lodging, and food. Based on my experience... a charter bus can run $800-$1200 per day, which might be a solution for larger teams. Driving personal vehicles is a reasonable option that makes it easier to distribute costs (people don't usually value wear and tear on their own vehicle as high as they should). You can also of course fly, with per person prices varying from $200-$1000+ depending on where you are coming from. Lodging will run you $75-$150+/room/night (split by # in room), and a fair bet on food would be ~$15-$30/person/day. Most of these numbers can be changed somewhat by being cost conscious, but it might give you a starting point on what to expect to fund raise.

[ArtemusMaximus]

Originally Posted by Steven Smith

First off, congratulations on your win!

Registration is $5000. If you received any start-up grant money, you might check with the granting organization. Some of them have clauses that will pay for your championship registration if you qualify to attend.

On top of that, you will of course be responsible for travel, lodging, and food. Based on my experience... a charter bus can run $800-$1200 per day, which might be a solution for larger teams. Driving personal vehicles is a reasonable option that makes it easier to distribute costs (people don't usually value wear and tear on their own vehicle as high as they should). You can also of course fly, with per person prices varying from $200-$1000+ depending on where you are coming from. Lodging will run you $75-$150+/room/night (split by # in room), and a fair bet on food would be ~$15-$30/person/day. Most of these numbers can be changed somewhat by being cost conscious, but it might give you a starting point on what to expect to fund raise.

Is it really? You have to pay another $5000 to compete in the worlds?
I do not see any such stipulation on FRC Payment Terms page

[Anthony4004]

Originally Posted by ArtemusMaximus

Is it really? You have to pay another $5000 to compete in the worlds?
I do not see any such stipulation on FRC Payment Terms page

The event is not called "worlds", that is simply the nickname we all give it.
It is the FIRST Championship that you wish to look at. The reason is says "pre-qualified FRC teams" is due to this being the payment due date which is listed at January 23rd. I believe worlds works the same as the district championship, were you have to pay the registration fee by a week before the event.

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by ArtemusMaximus

Is it really? You have to pay another $5000 to compete in the worlds?
I do not see any such stipulation on FRC Payment Terms page

It says "FIRST Championship (pre-qualified FRC Teams) $5,000.00"

[feverittm]

If you won over the past weekend, you should have had to set up a way to ship your robot to St. Louis like tomorrow! You would have had to tell FIRST by like today that you were accepting your position and were then responsible for the $5000 worlds registration costs.

If you haven't done any of this yet then I would contact FIRST like NOW and figure out what you can do.

[Sohaib]

You guys actually won it at the same event as us (last year), congratulations! It's $5000 to register for the championships. I'd recommend seeing if you can take a bus with a local team as that will split the costs. (We did this last year with 2198)

See if you can talk to you sponsors about this. Most of them will be willing to give to additional money since you are now qualified for the World Championships.

I'd personally recommend a bus over an airplane, unless you sort out the funds for both. With a bus, you have it for the whole day, and can go pretty much any where, (ie. St. Louis Arch.)

Good luck guys!

[prasvpatel]

Guys thanks for all of your answers but generally how much does it cost per person like approx is it like $1200 per person, we are taking a bus to st.louis from markham, ontario.

[EricH]

I'd lowball at the $400-$500 range as far as a per-person, and expect higher.

Food: Most folks will probably be able to deal with about $40-$50/day for three meals and possibly a snack. This could be brought down in a few ways, or up in a few ways. Figure 5 days for $200-$250.

Hotel: At 4 to a room, for 4 nights, the average rate for a hotel is generally $100-$120/night. Figure everybody pays 1 night(ish). Note that this could easily be higher... or lower if you're a savvy shopper. It would also go down if you were to leave St. Louis on Saturday after the Finale (or the final round).

The rest? Each person's share of the bus fees, and "incidentals" that tend to crop up. (OK, souvenirs and extra food...)

[Matt Ciprietti]

I'm certain that many Ontario teams would be very willing to help you with the logistics of getting to St. Louis and share our expertise on how to do it best.

However, the bus can wait. As was mentioned above, today (the Tuesday after your event) was the payment deadline for Championship - it is insanely quick after finding out you qualified, especially for a rookie team. If you haven't paid ($5000 USD), your lead mentor needs to contact FRC Team Support first thing tomorrow and see what you can do - frcteams@usfirst.org or 1(800) 871-8326. They also would have wanted you to ship it in a crate by Thursday.

I would strongly recommend your lead mentor contact FIRST Canada as well, since they can likely help you out - try the director, Mark Breadner (mark.breadner@firstroboticscanada.org) as soon as possible.

As to your question about cost, the price each student will pay is highly dependent on how full your bus is. Expect the bus to be in the ballpark of $6000-$7000 for a charter from Ontario. Sharing with other teams is a definite possibility if you don't have a huge number going. Hotels and food you already heard about.

Feel free to private message me if you have more questions, or post them here. But make sure you get on top of this right away, because we'd hate to see you miss out!

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by Matt Ciprietti

They also would have wanted you to ship it in a crate by Thursday.

How does that work? If you win a regional then you immediately ship your robot to St. Louis? What if you were planning on going to another regional?

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by GreyingJay

How does that work? If you win a regional then you immediately ship your robot to St. Louis? What if you were planning on going to another regional?

You ship your robot after your last Regional or District event. For example if you qualify in Week X, you would Bag your robot and take it to your Week X event, if this is your last event, then you bag the robot. Then back at your school/shop you would crate your bagged robot and ship it to St. Louis using the FedEx shipping information that FIRST would have provided to your teams main and alternate contact after qualifying in your 1st event.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by prasvpatel

Guys thanks for all of your answers but generally how much does it cost per person like approx is it like $1200 per person, we are taking a bus to st.louis from markham, ontario.

If your team has already arranged transportation, it's a good bet one of your mentors already has most of the costs worked out. They'd be a better source of accurate information for you.

[Debbie]

Originally Posted by prasvpatel

Guys thanks for all of your answers but generally how much does it cost per person like approx is it like $1200 per person, we are taking a bus to st.louis from markham, ontario.

For my team, from Michigan to STL on a charter bus, staying in a Union Station hotel, including all food for the entire trip, and a trip to the City Museum, it will cost $650 per team member. We have fundraised our bus fee, so that will drop it to $530 per person. We do not have the $5,000 fee because Michigan Dept. of Ed. grants us that. We typically pay that through sponsorships though prior to the grant. We have 54 people on our bus, so that lowers the bus cost. Hope that helps. Good luck!

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by Matt Ciprietti

I would strongly recommend your lead mentor contact FIRST Canada as well, since they can likely help you out - try the director, Mark Breadner (mark.breadner@firstroboticscanada.org) as soon as possible.

Do this. FIRST Canada and Mark are who you need to talk to right away. Congrats on Champs!