Non-GT Members

We occasionally receive requests for people unaffiliated with Georgia Tech to join our organization. This page documents the reasons we do not accept members that are not already members of the Georgia Tech community.

Joint Campus Organization Committee policy restrictions

As RoboJackets is a chartered student organization, we are subject to JCOC policy, including membership restrictions.

JCOC Policy revised March 29, 2019, Art 2 § 3.A restricts membership eligibility for chartered student organizations as follows:

1. Membership of a chartered student organization is limited to students as defined by these three types of members.

a. Co-op students in the Atlanta metro area may be considered full-time Georgia Tech students for the purpose of membership.

b. Students from institutions affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology that also pay the Georgia Tech student activities fee are considered Georgia Tech students for the purpose of this policy.

c. Students that pay the student activities fee and are eligible for participation in extracurricular activities as defined by the Georgia Tech student handbook.

Student Government Association Joint Finance Committee policy restrictions

RoboJackets receives considerable funding from the Student Government Association, including for travel, and so we are subject to JFC policy for a large percentage of our budget.

JFC policy revised September 24, 2019 allows for non-student members with the following restrictions:

• Non-students who are members of Tier III organizations shall be charged a membership fee of no less than two times the student rate. (Art 6 § 2)
• No budget or bill shall allocate funding for...any travel expense for a non-student (Art 8 § 1.a.j)

Logistical challenges

People without a nine-digit Georgia Tech ID number are not able to access our facility without assistance, log in to the wireless network, or use any of our Internet-based resources, including our dues payment system.

People that are not already affiliated with the Institute create a liability risk in our facility as the equipment we use for manufacturing is inherently dangerous.

Standing RoboJackets policy

In an attempt to meet the above policy requirements and logistical challenges, our standing policy for membership is as follows:

• People that have not been issued a nine-digit Georgia Tech ID number are not eligible to be members, with no exceptions.
• Undergraduate or graduate students taking courses only online are not eligible to be members as they do not pay the Student Activity Fee as required by JCOC policy.
• Any currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate student at the Georgia Tech Atlanta campus in good standing with the Institute is eligible to be a member with no restrictions.
• People with a nine-digit Georgia Tech ID number that have previously paid both the Student Activity Fee and RoboJackets dues in the same Institute fiscal year are permitted to continue paying dues indefinitely to maintain access to our Internet-based resources. To comply with JFC policy (Art 6 § 2), we will charge double the student rate for dues. To comply with JFC policy (Art 8 § 1.a.j), we will not fund any travel for people in this category whatsoever. JCOC policy previously called this "affiliate membership" though the classification was removed in a recent revision to the policy.
• Any person not matching any of the above criteria exactly may contact us at hello@robojackets.org to discuss their situation. To date, RoboJackets has not accepted any members that do not meet the third or fourth category, and we expect that trend to continue.