A few beginner tri questions.

Some races are USAT sanctioned and will require a license to race from all racers.  If this is true of your race, and you don't have an annual USAT membership, you will be obligated to purchase a 1-day license.  It's usually charged at registration (or a $10 discount for USAT members) and then an application is filled out when you pick up your race packet.  But not all tris are USAT sanctioned, so you don't need to worry about it unless asked.

Wetsuits are never "required" and sometimes they are not allowed.  If the water temp is above 78 degrees on race day, you may not wear a wet suit.  If you are not worried about being cold, you don't need to worry about it.

Some folks like to wear wetsuits when possible, because they provide more streamlining and also the bouyancy of the suit helps swimmers with balance issues.  But I would tell any beginner that if they are okay without the suit, and it's not a long swim, to not bother.  If you do decide to try a wetsuit, make sure it's swim specific (i.e. not a scuba suit, or shortie suit used for water skiing, surfing, etc) because they have a slicker outside and are built to allow arm rotation.  You can usually rent them from local tri shops.  Make sure you do one practice open water swim in the suit, if so.  Also, practice taking it off because you will need to do this before the bike portion.

This is a general overview, there's lots to say.  You may wish to search the forum for more threads on wetsuits and whatever else comes up.

Good luck!

Sort of - if you're not a member, you pay $10 more than the fee. The fee advertised will be what it would cost a USAT member. So if the fee for the race says "$65", if you're not a USAT member, it's actually $75. I've never seen it advertised the other way around.

Anyway... just check out the sign-up details and it should be clear, and you can always ask the Race contact person.

Greg - where is the swim and what's the length?  You have now seen one case where it's really recommended from Stuy119.  To compare, my last race was 78.9 degrees for 600 yards and most folks really don't "need" a wet suit for that.   It's very relative.