Each year, thousands of students must buy lab coats and protective gear to complete their major requirements.

Students said there are many ways to forgo the expensive costs of lab equipment, from borrowing from friends to accessing student-run lab coat rental programs. The gear helps prevent students’ skin from coming into contact with harmful chemicals or substances.

A lab coat from Amazon costs upwards of $50. Lab goggles can cost more than $10 and lab notebooks can cost more than $20, according to Amazon’s website.

“Those kind of prices push most first years or most college students I know to – if it’s for short term use – borrow lab coats from a friend,” said Anand George, a rising second-year neuroscience student.

George, who took Life Science 7L: Introduction to Laboratory and Scientific Methodology last spring, said he opted to borrow a lab coat from his friend because it was the most cost-friendly and convenient option.

The chemistry and biochemistry department started requiring students to wear fire-resistant lab coats in chemistry labs after Sheharbano “Sheri” Sangji, a chemistry research assistant, died in 2008 from second- and third-degree burns from a chemical fire.

[Related: Tragedy at UCLA followed by requirements for protective gear, research into lab safety – Daily Bruin]

“People usually wear lab coats in lab settings because you want to protect yourself and others from things you might deal with in a lab,” George said. “You don’t want to be bringing back E. coli stains if you happened to have dropped a culture.”

Good Clothes Good People, a student-run basic needs club that oversees the Community Essentials Resource Center, runs a lab coat and lab goggles loan service and provides free lab notebooks for students, said Sarah Giovennella, the club’s incoming president.

The club has 26 lab coats for rental and has served more than 50 students since the program began two years ago, Giovennella, a rising fourth-year human biology and society student, said.

Students can access the service anytime in the quarter by visiting the center, located in the Student Activities Center, and paying a $15 deposit to check out a lab coat. The club refunds the deposit once students return the lab coat during week 10, Giovennella said.

Giovennella said the club partners with the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Financial Supports Commission because the commission’s larger lab coat rental program often runs out quickly.

The office offers more than 200 lab coats for rental at the beginning of each quarter, said Nico Morrone, the 2025-26 Financial Supports Commissioner.

“The program itself helps people realize the extent of access they have to all these resources on campus,” Giovennella added. “There’s a struggle that people always think that, ‘Oh, this isn’t for me, this is for someone else who needs it more,’ but we’re students, this is for every single student.”

Carlos Pizano, a rising second-year chemistry student, said he bought a lab coat from Alpha Chi Sigma, UCLA’s chemistry fraternity, for his Chemistry 20L: General Chemistry Laboratory class. He added that he wanted to support a campus organization instead of a large company such as Amazon.

Pizano said he paid around $100 for a lab coat, lab goggles and lab notebook. He added that he believes the price of his lab coat was justified because he is required to take multiple lab classes for his major.

“It worked really well because as soon as the quarter started, I was able to go pick up my lab coat at Young Hall,” Pizano said. “It was just more convenient for me.”