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The first of multiple bills to limit TOPS awards failed last week in the state legislature.
Senate Bill 86 was unanimously shelved Thursday by the Senate Education Committee.
The bill — authored by Sen. Butch Gautreaux — would have capped TOPS awards at 90 percent of next semester’s tuition cost.
The LSU Board of Supervisors have already approved a 5 percent increase in tuition, and another 5 percent increase could be approved by pending legislation.
Students receiving TOPS would have paid about $500 more in tuition and fees next semester if the TOPS legislation had passed along with the tuition increase legislation now being debated.
Gautreaux said he introduced the legislation because of the increasing cost of TOPS to the state.
“This is the second time I authored it,” Gautreaux told The Daily Reveille on March 25. “The state is in real fiscal trouble. If we don’t do something to the amount of the award, we are going to lose it all together.”
The TOPS program cost the state more than $120 million last year, according to figures from the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Aid. That figure is expected to rise as tuition rates increase.
Gautreaux said he has unsuccessfully introduced the legislation multiple times but expected the bill to gain traction because of increasing state financial troubles.
His bill is one of multiple bills that seeks to place a cap on TOPS.House Bill 490, authored by Rep. Joe Harrison, would cap TOPS at $1,600 for tuition or the tuition amount determined by the Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission beginning with the 2011-12 award through the 2015-16 award year.
Jason Droddy, assistant vice chancellor of Legislative and External Affairs, said the demise of Gautreaux’s bill is a good indication of the similar bill’s fate.
The legislature is scheduled to debate a bill Wednesday that would consolidate the governance of higher education.
Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]