Roaring Robotics Costs
How much does it costs to have a student on the team?
Fees
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Fees? What fees? We do not have fees. As we are generously sponsored by Caterpillar we are able to avoid charging fees. However, there are other costs involved with having a student on our team (see below). We want our team to be accessible to all eligible students and their families.
Donations?
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If a family wishes to make a donation to our team, they are welcome to. However, we do not require any donations. We want our team to be accessible to all.
Team Wear
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We expect students to have appropriate team wear for competitions and events. A basic set of team wear is less than $150. We also provide discount codes so that those families who are financially challenged may still acquire a basic set of team wear. Families may purchase additional team wear items for their student and family.
Competitions
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We typically compete in two main season competitions which require overnight travel. We expect students to travel with their families (though families can foist their students off onto other families). We will obtain group reservations at local hotel which we encourage, but not require, team families to stay at. Hotel overnight costs are typically in the range of $100 - $140 per night plus local taxes. Most families stay overnight for two nights. Our intent is for each active student on our team to be able to attend at least one competition. If a family is financially challenged, we will see if something can be worked out so that all active students can attend at least one competition.
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Our team typically also competes in a couple of single-day competitions. The competition in July has a set-up and practice time during the evening before the matches for which families can attend and stay overnight, if they desire.
Meals
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We ask each family to help provide a team meal a few times per year for our full-day meetings. In addition, we typically have 1 or 2 potlucks during the season. In addition, there are food costs associated with most events which we participate in.
Support
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Given that we are an all volunteer team, we do ask family adults to become an active part of our team in addition to their our students. Building full-size robots is a huge undertaking and our students need a lot of adult support. Check out our commitment page for more details.
One of our students helps set up a meal provided by a team family.