NIU Students will have to pay an additional $16.32 in fees if Thursday’s recommendations to the President’s Fee Study Committee are approved.

The recommended increases in four fees totaling $16.32 per semester will be sent to NIU President John LaTourette for review before going to the Board of Regents for final approval.

Increases recommended by the committee include $7.20 per semester for the Student Recreation Center. Director of Bond Revenue Operations William Herrmann, also a committee member, said the increase will cover operating expenses for the rec center next year, but will not reduce the $300,000 deficit.

A $5.40 increase in athletic fees was recommended to reduce the athletic department’s $370,000 deficit. The fee also supports a $53,000 increase from this year’s budget. Williams said the increase is due to projected tuition increases under the grant-in-aid program and service costs such as a 5 to 10 percent increase in bus rates.

An increase of $2.04 was recommended for the University Health Service. This money would be used primarily to provide chlamydia testing to students free of charge. The service now costs $10.

A $1.68 increase was recommended for Huskie Stadium and the Chick Evans Field House. Herrmann said this increase would be used to build up funds for the eventual replacement of lights in the fieldhouse and astro-turf in the stadium.

With the exception of the athletic fee, the proposed increases were accepted by the committee. The athletic fee review team proposed a $6 per semester increase, but was granted $5.40 from the fee study committee.

Student committee member Lisa Schlepp, Student Association treasurer, said she is concerned about the “larger than normal increase” this year. “I think it would be more fitting to do an incremental increase,” she said.

Eddie Williams, vice-president for finance and planning, said last year’s committee passed a two-year plan to eliminate the deficit. “The $6 increase completes this plan,” he said.

The $5.40 increase will result in a deficit of about $60,000 at the end of Fiscal Year 1988. The $6 increase would have meant a $49,000 deficit at the end of FY88. Both plans will result in surplus funds at the end of 1989 if costs remain constant and expected revenues hold up.

Williams said a surplus is unlikely because inflation probably will bring costs up, and there are six home football games planned for the 1987 season. The extra home games provide more revenue, he said.

Because the committee would not grant the entire increase, Williams said fee-generated centers, such as the athletic department, might no longer accept two-year plans in the future and ask for increases on the basis of one year only. “We’re headed in a direction that is detrimental to the program,” he said.