Senators Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, and Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, announced Wednesday their intent to change TOPS awards in the upcoming legislative session.
Senate Bill 48 will keep the TOPS award amount given to a student from decreasing one year to the next, regardless of a university’s tuition changes.
“In no case shall the amount awarded to a student who is the recipient of any award pursuant to this Chapter be less than the amount paid for the previous award year,” the bill states.
The bill proposes the amount of TOPS awarded in 2016-17 should equal the sum awarded in the 2015-16 year for any given student.
The legislature could, by law, still raise the amount granted to a student in any given award year, and increases will be the new minimum amount.
“By establishing base funding, future tuition increases will not be reflected in the state budget,” said Donahue, chairman of the Finance Committee and Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
Medium household income in Louisiana ranks near the bottom in South and in the country despite being the richest in natural resources, Appel said, and the way to fix that is by investing in students in higher education through the TOPS program.
Appel acknowledged the TOPS program has grown “exponentially,” and put a strain on the state budget. This legislation, he said, will preserve TOPS for future students.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s February announcement to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget proposed an increase to the TOPS fund by $34 million.
The senators were joined by Phyllis Taylor of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, members of the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance and university system administrators.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell, Board of Regents Chair Roy Martin and Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Rallo announced their support of the bill and the TOPS program.
“Students who choose to study in the state, you have a better chance of holding onto them after graduation,” Bell said.
Taylor said keeping high achieving students in state after graduation is important to balancing the state budget.
Higher education, business and legislature must all collaborate for the best interest of the state as it facing budgetary issues, Taylor said
“There is no better way to spend our tax dollars than on higher education,” Taylor said.
Martin recalled those three sectors’ solidarity when implementing the WISE Fund.
TOPS is awarded in four different categories: TOPS Opportunity Award, TOPS Performance Award, TOPS Honors Award and TOPS Tech Award. The Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission determines award amounts based on a student’s college or university tuition.
While Appel said he believes there is solid support for the bill in the legislature where it needs a simple majority to pass, the final decision rests with the governor, who must sign it into law.
Donahue said he answered some questions from the governor’s office about the difference between a cap and a baseline, but Jindal has expressed no support or disdain of the bill.
Present TOPS eligibility is determined by whether a student scores higher than the previous year’s average state ACT score and higher than a 20 composite. The bill keeps these requirements but adds that the state average be expressed in whole numbers.