What do my fees cover as a School of Music student?

Practice Room & Locker Fee

There are 45 practice rooms in the Schoenberg Music Building.  In order to use these practice rooms, School of Music majors and minors must submit a practice room sign-up form by completing a paper application in room 2520.  The quarterly fee is $57 and charged to Bruin Bill.   Cancellations must be made before the end of the 3rd week of the quarter/session to receive a refund.

Reservations are required to use the practice rooms. Once you submit the Practice Room Sign-Up Form, you will receive a confirmation with instructions on how to make reservations.

Payment is made through your Bruin Bill account. We do not accept cash or credit card payment at the front desk.  If you have any questions about practice rooms, lockers, or related fees, you may reach out to Virginia Pettis or Alex Echevarria for assistance.

PRACTICE ROOM RULES
  • Bruin cards must be displayed in the window
  • Practice room windows may not be covered or blocked at any time
  • Food and drink (aside from water) are not permitted in the practice rooms
  • Place personal items on the provided hooks and shelves, not the pianos
  • Reservations are required to use the rooms

Failure to abide by the above rules will result in suspension of practice room access.

LOCKERS

Lockers are available only to those who have signed up to use the practice rooms, and are issued on a first come first serve basis while available.

Lockers are used at students’ own risk, and neither UCLA nor the School of Music are liable for any loss, damage or theft to any personal property left in lockers. You are strongly encouraged to obtain personal property insurance.

After each quarter, students who choose to not sign-up for the next quarter will have to clear their lockers of all personal belongings.  Lockers that are not cleaned out as instructed will have their contents removed and will receive a $86 fine on their Bruin Bill.

Course Fee for Individual Instruction

Acknowledging the high cost of providing individual instruction, many university music schools in the United States have long maintained “individual instruction fees” that are assessed in addition to regular tuition for students taking individual lessons in performance. The Herb Alpert School of Music proposed and implemented a fee of $325 per quarter for all undergraduates and graduate students in the Music Department for each quarter they receive individual instruction (studio lessons), and for all undergraduate Jazz Studies students for each quarter they receive individual instruction (studio lessons). Revenues from the “Individual Instruction Fee” will make it possible for the School to sustain its large offering of individual studio lessons, which currently has an enrollment of 765 per year and includes about 7,650 hours of individual lessons annually.

Required Individual Instruction Courses listed by major for Music and Jazz Studies

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the time period during the academic calendar for assessing of the Individual Instruction Fee?

Like other course materials fees, the Individual Instruction Fee will be based on the student’s course enrollment at the end of Week 3. Also, the Financial Aid Office will take the fee into account when establishing an admitted student’s loan package. Continuing students eligible for Financial Aid will be encouraged to request a supplement based on the need to pay the fee for the coming year. By doing this, the cost of the fee will be taken into account at the time the student’s loan package is calculated in the spring, thereby increasing their eligibility to receive loans or scholarships for the following year.

The fee will be applied to all vocal and instrumental studio courses taught for Music Department and Global Jazz Studies students: MUSIC 60-65, 160-165, 460-465 and ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 71, 171. Any student enrolled in one of these courses will be assessed a fee of $325 each quarter. If a student in not enrolled in one of these courses during the quarter, no fee will be assessed.

The fee will be set at $325 per quarter for a three-year period (2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19). At the end of this three-year period, the School will have to reapply for the fee to continue. The School is committed to set the fee at a level that will generate about 30% of the costs of hiring temporary and studio faculty. If that cost decreases over the next few years, the School would propose a lower fee, but if the cost increases (and is not otherwise covered by UC, the Chancellor’s Office or other dedicated funds from endowment), the School would have to propose a modest increase in the fee.

Some concerns have been raised that students have not always received the requisite ten studio lessons per quarter, or that instructors have sometimes scheduled lessons at irregular intervals and of varying lengths. The School will ensure that all students paying the fee will receive 10 hours of individual instruction per quarter from their principal teacher, scheduled at reasonable and regular intervals unless lessons are canceled by the student for non-urgent reasons. Students not receiving their allotted lesson time should contact the Department Chair or Office of Student Affairs immediately. Refunds by petition will be arranged through the Dean’s office if other solutions do not meet the student’s needs.