When I was in college 30 years ago at Northeastern, the students at Berklee were required to put on free concerts which were open to the public.    With Berklee only 2 blocks ago and the magic word "free" I went to a number of them.   The price was right and if you didn't like it you left.   It was a great exposure to a number of different styles of music.    I remember a lot of jazz, and baroque, but not a lot of folk.

In general I was very impressed with the musicianship of the students.    I don't know what it is like today, but I have very fond memories of those recitals.