FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to increase the amounts of the annual awards given to recipients of the South Dakota opportunity scholarship.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
    Section 1. That § 13-55-33 be amended to read as follows:
    13-55-33. One-half of the annual scholarship award shall be paid to public institutions on behalf of eligible students there enrolled or directly to eligible students enrolled at nonpublic institutions at the beginning of the fall semester and the other half shall be paid at the beginning of the spring semester. The amount of the annual award shall be as follows:

    For students first receiving a scholarship award after July 1, 2015, the amount of the annual award shall be as follows:

            (1)    One thousand three hundred dollars for the first year of attendance;

            (2)    One thousand three hundred dollars for the second year of attendance;

            (3)    One thousand three hundred dollars for the third year of attendance;

            (4)    Two thousand six hundred dollars for the fourth year of attendance unless the student attended full-time a regionally accredited university, college, or technical school located outside South Dakota prior to admission to the program, in which case the award shall be one thousand three hundred dollars.

    If a scholarship recipient completes an undergraduate degree within three full years of attendance and subsequently enrolls in an eligible institution as defined in subdivision 13-55-31(4) in a graduate program and attains full-time graduate status as determined by the graduate program, the recipient is entitled to the remainder of the award the recipient would have received if the recipient had completed an undergraduate degree following four full years of attendance.

    If, in any year, the total funds available to finance the scholarship awards are insufficient to permit each eligible recipient to receive the full amount provided in this section, the available moneys shall be prorated and distributed to each recipient in proportion to the entitlement contemplated by this section. The total amount of the scholarship may not exceed five thousand six thousand five hundred dollars.