RALEIGH, N.C. – N.C. State University's student body president on Monday said new student fees are a chance to make some needed investments.

Melanie Flowers is on track to graduate this spring. If she were to remain on campus another year, she would pay an additional $68 in fees, equating to more than $1,800 in total fees she would have to pay as an N.C. State student each year.

The largest share of the increase, in the case of most campuses, comes from a rise in student health service fees. Officials at 14 of the UNC System's 16 university campuses asked for and got increased fees to cover hiring additional personnel, especially mental health counselors.

The increases range from $10 at Appalachian State and UNC Pembroke to $88 at UNC Charlotte. N.C. Central and the UNC School of the Arts are the only campuses where health service fees will remain unchanged next year.

“I'm happy that our Student Health will have the additional resources they need to continue serving our really large student population,” Flowers says. “The impacts of COVID-19 are only continuing to show themselves and I think they're going to be a department that we're going to need to be as strong as possible moving forward.”

Although the increases might not sound like much, Flowers says they can add up for students facing financial difficulties. She had a close call this year when her mother lost her job for several months due to COVID-19 layoffs. Since she receives federal financial aid, Flowers says she can get help in case fees go up. Still, she says it's not a pleasant experience for students with limited budgets.

“A $30 increase unexpectedly does mean for a lot of people, there's more money that you need that you didn't budget for. And that can be really frustrating and that can be really scary,” she adds.

Flowers' assessment of a larger security fee, which represents the other half of the student fee increases, is more mixed. She says the UNC System needs to do what it can to ensure it is hiring the best police officers and security personnel.

The problem is the way the fees were introduced. Usually, any changes to student fees have to first go through the student governments on the affected campuses, which then hold town halls on the use and impact of the proposed fees. That was the way the health services fee was proposed.

The UNC System Board of Governors bypassed this mechanism when they chose to increase the security fee by $30 at 13 of the campuses. At their February meeting, board members added provisions specifying that the extra money was to be used for a mix of officer pay, and suicide and sexual assault prevention.

Flowers says that's a good use of the money but the student governments should have been included in the discussion from the beginning, particularly given the ongoing national debate over the proper use of law enforcement officers.

Tables from the Board's budget and finance committee show in-state students can expect to pay an additional $60.31 in fees next year on average, with no changes in tuition. Out-of-state students will face the same fee hikes but also will face tuition hikes at NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Appalachian State and Winston-Salem State. The changes become effective for the 2021-2022 academic year.

UNC System officials did not return a request for comment.