Students part of the University of North Alabama’s band program are raising concerns over recent and sudden changes made to the Band Performance Award (BPA) process.
This new process was introduced this Spring and requires students to re-audition annually to determine their scholarship amounts. Students have expressed the sudden change has felt abrupt.
“I was surprised about the quick switch at first, I wasn’t expecting to have to audition for another time,” said one band member who requested to remain anonymous. “I understand it’s probably mostly for [the Macy’s Day Parade], but it’s still disappointing to have to resort to possibly losing some of our scholarship money.”
Other students are concerned about the band inserting an “alternate system”, a system where, during marching band season, students labelled as “alternates” do not perform every time the band performs.
“I think we’re doing some kind of alternate system, like how Auburn does with their marching band,” said another current band student. “I don’t know how I feel about that, like the breaks might be cool, but something I really liked about UNA was that we got to perform so much.”
According to Dr. Lloyd Jones, the Director of Bands, the BPA change comes from a directive issued by the Dean of College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering related to scholarships for UNA Band members. Jones decided to implement the annual re-auditioning of band members in response.
“This spring’s re-audition process is the initiation of a procedure which will take place annually from here forward.’’ said Jones. Jones and the other Directors believe this method is “fair and equitable.”
For the 2025-2026 academic year, students were required to submit their applications along with their audition videos by April 15. Under this new system, students’ BPA’s can be adjusted by 30%, this can be through an increase or decrease, based on their re-audition.
Current band members are guaranteed to not lose their entire scholarship they previously had.
Jones said current band members were notified about the scholarship changes during class in February.
Jones explained that the budget UNA Bands receives annually has not been sufficiently increased to support the bands rapid growth over the past few years, with the past year growing by 13%.
“While the band is growing, their funds are remaining level. Perhaps these positive growing pains can be addressed in the near future,” said Jones.
“The students know I have an open-door policy and will entertain any and all of their questions,” said Jones. “I believe the students know that I will support them and will treat them fairly.”
The Student News Site of University of North Alabama
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