A bill requiring TOPS recipients who leave the state within a year of attending or graduation from college to repay half of their TOPS grant was deferred on a 4-2 vote in a Senate Education Committee meeting Thursday.
TOPS recipients, under the proposal, also would have to show proof of residency for as many semesters they received TOPS. 
Senate Bill 110, by Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, was deferred after passionate debate over concerns about the state’s broken promises to TOPS recipients and the possibility the measure would open a door for neighboring state universities to poach the state’s best and brightest students.
Luneau said the proposal isn’t meant as a punitive measure, but would hold students accountable for their use of taxpayer money and encourage them to remain in the state as productive residents. He said the mission of TOPS is to keep the best and brightest in Louisiana, adding there needs to be a means to prevent students from using the system and offering few benefits to the state in return.
“There are a lot of students out there who have no intention of staying in the state, who take advantage of the TOPS program…They get their education and . . . move on.  They don’t contribute anything to Louisiana after that.”
Luneau said the repayment program would allow Louisiana to replace money in the TOPS program, and for every three students who pay back money the state could fund more than one new qualifying student.  
The bill would apply to high school seniors graduating from 2018 onward, with certain exceptions for people who leave due to extenuating medical circumstances, a spouse’s job transfer, religious commitments, military service, death in immediate family and similar criteria.
Appel said legislators shouldn’t penalize students for the state’s abysmal job-growth numbers and its inability to attract higher paying job opportunities. He said it’s the onus of adults to generate jobs and a positive business environment.  Students shouldn’t be prevented from moving if they must find a job elsewhere, he said.
Appel and other senators also raised concerns the bill would make it easier for neighboring state universities, such as the University of Alabama, to cherry pick the state’s best students. Limiting where students can live and work after graduation would give those schools more ammunition to entice them with lucrative out-of-state scholarship programs, he said.
Two other bills – Senate Bill 90 by Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston, and Senate Bill 71 by Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville – received favorable treatment and were sent to the full Senate for debate.
Erdey’s SB90 proposed extending scholarship benefits for children of deceased law enforcement officers to part-time students and students in associate’s or professional degree programs.
Donahue described his SB90 as a clean-up bill that would clarify TOPS language, setting award amounts at the rate of the university or college’s 2016-2017 tuition rate.