Several students had problems receiving their TOPS eligibility letters this summer because of a new process in determining students’ TOPS eligibility, according to officials.
Travis Lavigne, chairman of the Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission, said with the new process, city and parish school systems sent students’ transcript data to the state Department of Education. That department then electronically, rather than manually, transferred the data to the Office of Student Financial Assistance.
Lavigne said the transition to electronic transmission was scheduled to occur “over a period of time.” But the Department of Education decided to speed up the process to help students.
“In accelerating this process, some of the schools had some difficulty getting data transmitted to the Department of Education,” Lavigne said.
Bill Miller, assistant to state Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard, said the Department of Education decided to change the process because of an increased emphasis on the high school core curriculum to qualify for TOPS as well as quality control.
“With this process, we were able to look carefully to see that no students were missed,” Miller said. “With the old system, it could have been several years before officials realized they missed some students.”
John Connelly, East Baton Rouge Parish School System public information officer, said the Department of Education gave his office an Aug. 30 due date to have the data submitted.
“What happened is that LSU decided to bill parents in mid-July,” Connelly said.
Connelly said when the University sent the fee bills in July, it was with the understanding that parents would be reimbursed once the TOPS money was placed in their student’s account.
However, Connelly said his office still received several complaints from parents and students worried about not receiving their TOPS money.
Connelly said the school system did not have problems with any other universities besides LSU.
Larry Butcher, director of Bursar Operations, said his office did not have any major problems with students not receiving their TOPS money.
Butcher said when his office sends fee bills, they give students an anticipated credit for TOPS based on application information.
Butcher said he did not think there were any major problems with University students this year. He said most information was received from the state prior to the due date.
Lavigne said while the human tendency is to point fingers or cast blame on one particular person or department, that should not be the case with this issue.
“Other people in the school system were concerned, and they were working toward the development of a better system,” Lavigne said.