The Florida Legislature has voted to allow three of the state’s universities to charge their undergraduates up to 40 percent more, making tuition independent of the state’s popular merit-scholarship program for the first time.

Under the legislation, approved by the House on Wednesday, the University of Florida and Florida State University, beginning this fall, could charge up to 40 percent more than the base state tuition as long as tuition increased by no more than 15 percent annually. The University of South Florida could charge up to 30 percent more.

The universities were selected based on a number of factors, including annual research activity, the number of doctoral degrees awarded, and four-year graduation rates. In its original form, the bill would have allowed just the University of Florida to levy a $500-per-semester fee increase, but it was expanded to attract additional support. The universities have said they need more money in order to be more academically competitive.

The change is significant in a state that has long had a tuition model that requires all public universities to charge the same rates, according to the Miami Herald.

Also notable, the state’s Bright Futures scholarship would not cover the extra tuition. The merit-scholarship program, which awards partial and full tuition to well over 100,000 students a year, has long been the 800-pound gorilla in tuition debates, as lawmakers have been reluctant to raise tuition because it would increase Bright Futures’ costs.

Still, it is unclear if Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican who has said he opposes raising tuition, will sign the bill. He told the St. Petersburg Times that it was a “strong maybe” that he would veto the legislation. —Karin Fischer