A bill that would change Louisiana’s Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) was voted down in the education committee, but author of the bill, Representative Joe Harrison, plans to continue the fight to change the scholarship program.
Representative Harrison states that he is not trying to kill TOPS, but save it by raising the requirements and giving it a better financial status.
TOPS has provided tuition for in-state students since 1998, but Harrison states that the program is putting a financial strain on the state. The program costs $228 million, and has a failure rate of about $20 million.
Harrison says that the legislature has only been able to fund this program by taking away money away from other programs. He states that TOPS will run out of money in two years if it keeps spending at the current rate.
Harrison has proposed changes to TOPS five times and plans to continue to do so. He states that if his bill would have passed when it was initial introduced, it would have saved the state 80 million dollars.
 His most recent, failed proposal would have raised the requirements for TOPS and required parents to co-sign the first two years of the scholarship reward.
He explains that TOPS is one of the most generous scholarship program, but has the least requirements compared to other state.
He states that most students who receive the lowest level of TOPS are not attending their required 12 hours of class, which drains the funds for future students. He explains that students who aren’t going to class and who are failing are taking money away from the taxpayers. He hopes that a change in the TOPS program will encourage students to be more responsible when entering college.
Harrison has a follow-up bill which would give students a certain percentage of the total worth of TOPS money each year, so that by their senior year they would have received the entire reward. This bill would cover 80 percent of a freshman’s tuition, 90 percent a sophomore’s, 100 percent of a junior’s and 120 percent of a senior’s tuition.
Harrison states that he is working on convincing the people in the education committee to support him, but he wants the LSU administration to back the plan. He explains that the administration is $48 million short in their budget and TOPS is part of the problem.
He explains that TOPS is also taking money away from bettering LSU. The Grad Act raises tuition by 10 percent each year and Harrison explained that 9.8 percent of that raise goes to students eligible for TOPS. He believes that it is unfair to take money from students who don’t receive TOPS in order to fund the program.
Harrison hopes to save the program to encourage future students to work hard and continue their education.