Student Fees - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Music Facilities Service Fee (MFSF)

A Music Facilities Service Fee (MFSF) card must be purchased in order to practice in rooms within the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music facilities. Largely, these grant access to practice rooms within the school of music but are also required for practicing in classrooms/rehearsal rooms (when available/reserved). MFSF cards must be displayed in the window slot at all times when using a room. Please see Virginia Pettis, Operations Assistant, in the main office (Schoenberg 2520) to apply for and purchase an MFSF card.

What is the cost and what does it include?

The quarterly fee for a basic MFSF card is $57 and includes 2 hours of total reservation time in a practice room per week. Additional reservation time can be added to the MFSF card package by paying an additional:

$17 = 5 hours of total reservation time
$34 = 10 hours of total reservation time
$51 = 15 hours of total reservation time
$68 = 20 hours of total reservation time

*Payment by check (payable to UC Regents) or BAR account is accepted.

MFSF card purchases include a key to the practice rooms (until your MFSF card expires), and use of a locker at no charge, while available. Lockers are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Cancellations of the MFSF card/package must be made before the end of the 2nd week of the quarter/session to be eligible for a refund.

The fee for a lost key = $29
MFSF card replacement fee = $23
Late locker renewal/retrieval of confiscated belongings from a locker that was not renewed = $86

If you have questions about the MFSF, practice room and lockers, please contact Virginia Pettis, Operations Assistant.

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

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 Services & Enrollment Management immediately. Refunds by petition will be arranged through the Dean’s office if other solutions do not meet the student’s needs.

The facilities fee will not change, and it is NOT related to the proposed instructional fee. In 2005, the School established a Music Facilities Services Fee (MFSF), making it possible for students to have ready access to practice rooms and lockers in the Schoenberg Music Building, as well as making it possible to hire a Campus Security Officer during the evenings and weekends. MFSF is a voluntary fee for music and nonmusic students who wish to use practice rooms and store their instruments.