CHEYENNE - Sales of the year-old University of Wyoming brown and gold license plates topped $280,000 last week. The money will be spent on scholarships to be awarded this semester, officials said.

"It's done real well," said former Rep. James Slater of Laramie, prime sponsor of the UW bill. "We had to sell 1,000 or be discontinued. We sold that many in the first month and a half, or maybe even the first month."

All of the $100 fee for the special license plates goes to the university for scholarships.

The university, Slater said, doesn't take any money out of the fee for administration.

Drivers also pay a $30 special license fee in addition to the $100 cost.

The specialty license plate, authorized by the 2007 Legislature, became available after Jan. 1, 2008.

"My goal was to get 5,000 of them sold so we would get half a million dollars for scholarships," Slater said.

As of Friday, 2,836 of the plates had been sold.

Slater, past president of the UW Alumni Association, said any resident can buy the specialty plates.

Robbie Darnall, director of the UW Alumni Association, said Tuesday the scholarships will be awarded this semester.

Beginning in the fall, the university will award some in-state and a few out-of-state scholarships.

After that the university will be looking at the budget to see if more scholarships can be offered.

The list of the $1,500-per-year scholarships to be awarded this semester include:

- Nine, four-year scholarships.

- Two to non-traditional students.

- One to the grandchild of a UW graduate.

- Three scholarships to fifth- or sixth-year undergraduates (students who haven't obtained their degree in four years).

- One to a student pursuing a second bachelor's degree.

- One to a student enrolled in an outreach credit degree program, off campus.

In addition one $3,000 award will go to a recognized student organization that conducts projects that benefit the campus or the community.

The university and the alumni board will look at whether money will be available to expand the scholarship programs.

"We know things will slow down a little bit. We're just trying to get a feel on how much money we'll have to last us until license plates renewals will be due in 2016," Darnall said.

Slater, meanwhile, succeeded the third time he sponsored the UW bill.

One year, the bill lost because it directed the license sale proceeds of the UW Alumni Association.

The state constitution requires that license fee proceeds go to a state agency. By the time the legal snag was pointed out, Slater said, it was too late to change the bill.

"The next time around we checked with the attorney general and had our ducks in order and we were able to get it through," Slater added.

He credited former state Sen. John Barrasso, now a U.S. Senator, for getting the bill through a Senate committee and onto the floor.

The bill directs all proceeds from the sales to the UW Board of Trustees.

The legislation requires the fees be spent on "projects and programs that directly support students at the university."

Opponents wanted the state's distinctive bucking horse license plate to be the only license plate allowed. They cautioned that the bill would set off a rash of demands for other specialty license plates.

The state already allows stickers or embossed plates for firefighters and National Guard members, but the identifiers are affixed to the traditional license plate.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at (307) 632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com