The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced it will replace old license plates beginning April 16, which will cost $1.2 million for the first year of replacement, according to Marge Howell, information and communications specialist for the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The legislature, according to Howell, appropriated the funding for the project.

Many of the plates on North Carolina vehicles are more than 20 years old, according to a press release that the DOT released. The press release stated that the deterioration of old plates makes identification difficult for law enforcement officials.

According to John Phillips, a junior in business management, the current license plates serve their purpose and don’t need to be replaced.

“That is a big waste of money,” he said. “I don’t see why they need to change it, especially if it costs $1.2 million.”

The new license plates will have a revamped design, Howell said.

The slogan “First in Flight” will remain on the new plates, and red letters will replace the existing blue ones, according to Howell.

Paige McKeel, a freshman in education, said she doesn’t think the plate design needs changing.

“Maybe people just need to get new license plates more often,” she said. “That way they can still be read.”

Michelle Dodrill, a junior in communication, said she does not see the importance of a state-wide implementation of new license plates.

“There’s no point in doing it,” she said. “If it is old and faded, you should get a new one on your own.”

Loretta Zwigart, a junior in animal science, said she expects initial confusion with the new plates.

“It is going to cause a lot of confusion for a while, like North Carolina plates versus other states,” she said.

But, she said in the end, the adjustment should not cause problems.

According to McKeel, the current N.C. license plates are not bad.

“Our [plates] are kind of boring but easier to read [than other states’],” she said. “Some others have more decoration on them.”

McKeel said the plates do fade over time, but the money isn’t worth it.

“[The plates] get hard to read after time from dirt,” she said. “They fade and aren’t so reflective … [but] they could find something better to spend their money on, something to benefit North Carolina more than license plates.”

According to Howell, the DOT will replace the oldest issued plates first. This year, the DOT will start with plates that display three letters and three numbers, among other sequences.

Howell said the DOT will notify owners whose license plates it chooses to replace when it distributes vehicle registration renewal forms. The cost for the new plates will be the same as the existing registration fee, Howell said.

The vehicle owners can then purchase new plates online, through the mail or from local license plate agencies, according to Howell.

“When people get their tags, we ask that they would take a moment to go by the nearest license plate agency and turn in [their] old tags so they can be recycled instead of going into the landfill,” she said.