PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Future recipients of South Dakota Opportunity scholarships might be getting a raise.

The state House of Representatives voted 62-8 on Thursday to increase the four-year total amount to $7,500.

Republican Rep. Tony Venhuizen, the bill’s prime sponsor, said that’s a 15% increase over the current $6,500.

The scholarships reward high school students for academic performance. The scholarships can be used at any public, private or tribal university or technical college in South Dakota. They were first funded in 2004 at $5,000 total spread across four years.

Venhuizen, a past member of the state Board of Regents that oversees South Dakota’s public universities, said tuition and fees at the public campuses have risen by about that same percentage since the Legislature last increased the scholarship in 2015.

HB-1055 now moves to the Senate, where Republican Ryan Maher is lead sponsor.

The program currently has more money allotted to it than recipients are receiving. Venhuizen said there was enough available to cover the proposed increase for the next three years.