Program Policies

Learn about family discounts, registration fees, and payments.

Payments

Once registered, tuition may be paid by credit card (online or over the phone) or check.

Payments may be made in full or in monthly installments for an additional $25 fee (per family, per semester; spring payment plan fee can be waived if already paid the fee in fall AND checked 'YES' to be automatically registered for full spring semester). Monthly invoices will be sent by e-mail.

Checks can be placed in the drop box located outside the Academy office or mailed to:

Accounts Receivable
University of Northwestern
3003 Snelling Ave. N.
St. Paul, MN 55113-1598

Late Payments

Late payments will be accessed an interest charge. In the event that it is necessary to place an account with a commercial collection agency, the student/parent will be responsible for all collection costs, along with attorney fees and court costs incurred by the college.

Families with an overdue balance may not register for additional activities until the overdue balance has been paid.

Registration Fee

There is a nonrefundable $20 registration fee per family per semester. The spring registration fee can be waived if checking 'YES' to be automatically registered for a full spring semester during the full fall semester registration transaction.

Late Registration Fee

There will be a $20 late registration fee applied if a student begins lessons before registering.

Refunds

Refunds will be given on a prorated basis if a student withdraws from lessons prior to the sixth week of the semester. No refunds will be given if notice of withdrawal or cancellation is given after the sixth week of the semester. If the need to pivot to virtual lessons arises, no refunds are available after the sixth lesson. Outstanding balances must be paid in full upon cancellation.

Family Discount

Families registering three or more students or registering for lessons on three or more instruments/ensembles during the same transaction will receive a 10 percent discount off the family's total tuition per semester. The discount does not apply towards the registration fee or the monthly installment plan fee.

COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for University of Northwestern Academy of Music

The University of Northwestern Academy of Music is committed to mitigating risk, where possible, for our teachers and students. We have developed the following Preparedness Plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants are responsible for implementing this plan. Our goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 for in-person lessons. This plan requires full cooperation among staff and families. We anticipate that these guidelines will receive updates throughout the year with the changing severity of the pandemic. This document will be emailed to all our participants (teachers, students, and satellite sites), along with important updates. Our Preparedness Plan follows current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines related to COVID-19 and addresses:

• Screening and policies for staff and families exhibiting signs and symptoms of COVID-19
• Notification of exposure/positive cases
• Cleaning/disinfecting the lesson space
• Social distancing
• Dropping off/picking up student
• Cloth masks requirement
• Hand Sanitizing
• Respiratory Etiquette
• Pivoting to virtual instruction
• COVID sickness/excused absences

Screening and policies for staff and families exhibiting signs and symptoms of COVID-19

Staff and families are encouraged to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The following policies and procedures have been implemented to assess health status prior to entering campus or a satellite site and for employees to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms.

Screening of Teacher and Student before arriving

Staff and families should do a self-check before leaving home.

• How am I feeling?
• Do I have any new or unusual symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, chills, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, loss of taste or smell, or fever of 100.4 or above)?
• If not feeling well, stay home and pivot to a virtual lesson instead or reschedule the lesson.

What to do if you have symptoms of COVID-19?

• UNW Staff need to follow the guidance put out on theRock regarding COVID-19.
• Stay home!
• Persons who have a fever of 100.4 or above or other signs of illness should not come to campus for a lesson.
• Contact your physician or clinic to see about getting a COVID-19 test.
• If not feeling well, stay home and pivot to a virtual lesson instead or reschedule the lesson.

What to do while waiting for results of COVID-19 test?

• Stay home until you get the results and pivot to a virtual lesson.
• If someone in your household or family is waiting for a test, all should stay home and watch for signs of COVID-19, pivoting to a virtual lesson.

If your test is negative and you still have symptoms

• Stay home until your symptoms subside AND until no fever for at least 24 hours without medication.

If your test is negative and you have another diagnosis

• Stay home until your symptoms subside and/or your medical doctor releases you to be around others.
• Others around you may return to normal activities as long as they don’t have any other symptoms.

If your test is positive

• Stay home at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared AND until no fever for at least 24 hours without medication AND improvement of other symptoms.
• Siblings and household members must stay home for 14 days.
• Please notify the Academy of Music as soon as possible, so we can follow up on steps we need to take to alert others with whom you may have come in contact.
• Academy of Music Staff also needs to notify Human Resources.

Notification of exposure/positive cases

If a family/household member tests positive, and you have been taking in-person lessons, we ask that you would alert us ASAP so we can notify your teacher and any others who may have been exposed. Families will not be notified of cases that are being tested unless there is an identified risk of exposure and at that time would need to be monitoring for any symptoms. We will email and call the current contact information on file with us, so please make sure to keep that updated for quickest communication.

Cleaning/Disinfecting/Airing out lesson spaces

Piano keys, music stands, and any other shared items will be cleaned daily.

To the extent possible, windows should be opened during lessons to exchange air in the room with fresh air from outside. Rooms equipped with an air purifier do not need to have the window open.

Wind and brass players should avoid draining condensation onto the floor; instead dispose of it in a collection container or on a disposable paper towel.

UNW facilities thoroughly cleans the bathrooms and high traffic touch areas daily. In the event of a positive COVID-19 case, we would contact facilities to do a thorough cleaning/disinfecting of the lesson space that evening.

Physical distancing during lessons

Maintain physical distance of at least 6 feet between performers to account for the greater number of airborne particles produced by singers and instrumentalists when compared to normal speaking levels.

Dropping off/picking up students

The University of Northwestern – St. Paul desires to minimize the number of guests and visitors in the buildings. Only students taking lessons and one adult are allowed in the building. Contact the Academy director if you have unique extenuating circumstances for consideration.

Cloth face coverings

There is no longer a statewide requirement to wear face coverings in most settings, and Northwestern will no longer require the use of face coverings.

We expect all members of our community to support anyone who chooses to wear a face covering, noting many reasons one might do so.

We continue to be committed to mitigating risk and strongly encourage the use of face coverings in alignment with MDH and CDC guidance as outlined below:

· MDH and CDC strongly recommends that anyone who is not fully vaccinated* continue to wear face coverings indoors in businesses, public settings, and when around people from other households, as well as outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained.

· MDH and CDC do not require those who are fully vaccinated* to wear face coverings indoors or outdoors. However, MDH and CDC recommend face coverings for fully vaccinated people in a few situations such as public mass transportation. Health care settings and K-12 schools may be required by federal, state, and/or local regulatory authorities to require face coverings in certain situations.

*The definition of fully vaccinated is two weeks following the second Pfizer or Moderna dose or two weeks after the single Johnson and Johnson dose.

Hand Sanitizing

Teacher and student are encouraged to use hand sanitizer at the beginning of their in-person lessons. Hand sanitizer is available at most entrances and various spots throughout campus.

Respiratory etiquette: cover your cough or sneeze

Teachers and students need to cover their mouth and nose with their elbow or a tissue when coughing or sneezing and avoid touching their face, in particular their mouth, nose, and eyes, with their hands. Dispose of tissues in the trash and wash or sanitize hands immediately afterward.

Pivoting to Virtual Instruction

If for any reason the student or teacher doesn’t feel comfortable teaching/learning face-to-face owing to the small size of the teaching space or the potential for infection, the lessons can pivot to an online/virtual learning environment instead. If the teacher or student doesn’t feel well, has family members who are waiting on a COVID test, or feel they should quarantine for any reason, the lesson can pivot virtually until both teacher and student are comfortable resuming in-person lessons. If UNW or the state mandates that in-person lessons are no longer available, we will pivot to online instruction. You will receive an email from the Academy of Music office with details, and your private instructor will contact you to discuss the best way to move forward with virtual lessons. Changing lessons from in-person to virtual is not a refundable event. We pledge to do our best to provide you with the best instruction possible using every means available to us including virtual learning when needed. We are unable to refund lessons if the need to pivot to virtual is necessary.

COVID-19 Sickness/Excused Absence

If a teacher is sick and unable to teach even virtually, they will contact their student at least 2 hours before the scheduled lesson. Every effort will be made to reschedule those lessons to a later date. If make-up lessons are not able to be scheduled, the student will be credited for lessons that were not taught. If a student is ill, a call must be made to the teacher's phone at least two hours prior to the lesson to be considered excused. Excused absences allow the scheduling of a make-up lesson.

University of Northwestern Academy of Music Mission Statement

The Academy of Music seeks to provide quality musical instruction and performance opportunities for community members of all ages and backgrounds to develop their God-given gifts.

Goal 1: Provide musical instruction and performance opportunities

• Offer private and group lessons for all ability levels.
• Offer varied levels of teacher experience and education, as well as varied costs.
• Offer a variety of ensembles to supplement the lesson experience.
• Offer performance opportunities each semester.
• Offer summer opportunities for lessons, ensembles and camps.

Goal 2: Provide supervised teaching experiences for current UNW students

• Provide valuable experience to UNW music students through teaching private lessons or assisting ensemble directors.
• Provide mentoring and professional development to student instructors.
• Provide competitive wages.

Goal 3: Recruit students to UNW

• Share prospective student information with UNW Admissions for follow-up.
• Include Academy families in Music Department and University publicity mailings.
• Develop interaction between music faculty and Academy students and families.
• Strengthen the ability of the AOM to attract and retain gifted potential music majors.

Goal 4: Maintain wise stewardship of resources

• Maintain up-to-date financial records in collaboration with the UNW Accounting Office.
• Explore grant opportunities with UNW Grants Office.
• Maintain affordable pricing structures to enable lower-income community members to participate.
• Maintain a self-sustaining budget that will adequately cover AOM expenses
• Establish funding for potential new programs.
• Use allocated space on campus and satellites wisely.

Goal 5: Communicate program to community and current customers

• Publicize program to area schools, home-school groups and churches.
• Maintain a professional, informative, and up-to-date website.
• Provide e-newsletters on a regular basis.
• Provide excellent customer service.
• Market program offerings through community advertising.

Goal 6: Provide Community Outreach

• Offer satellite locations in various area churches.
• Offer children’s concerts and other community events.
• Foster partnerships with local schools.
• Foster partnerships with local churches.