Student Government hosted a seminar discussing upcoming budget cuts to state higher education and outlining its official budget proposal to State Legislature on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Live Oak Lounge in the Student Union.The seminar titled, “Who Should Pay for Your Education?” featured a presentation on education in the state from Ourso Distinguished Chair of Economics Naci Mocan and a summary of the SG budget proposal by Student Government Chief Economic Adviser Greg Upton.”The main purpose is to educate students on the proposals we’re making and have them focused around a specific message,” Upton said.Upton focused on the three major points in the SG proposal:  the LA GRAD Act, the TOPS program and revising statutory protections in the state budget.Upton emphasized the need to revise statutory dedications and decrease the number of protected funds in the State Constitution.There are currently 1,868 pages of statutory dedications, Upton said.”It’s probably the biggest point in the proposal,” Upton said. SG promoted the idea that protections should not be the norm in the state so budget cuts would be more evenly allocated, rather than seriously affecting one or two programs.Seventy-two percent of respondents support a statutory reform, according to a recent survey, Upton said. The proposal supports the LA GRAD Act and encourages institutions to have more freedom to make decisions for tuition increases, rather than the state.The proposal promotes a merit-based TOPS system and offered no current changes to the program.”We want to keep the best and brightest in Louisiana, and TOPS is an integral way to do so,” Upton said. But SG suggests raising certain standards of the TOPS program such as increasing the minumum requirement to maintain a TOPS Opportunity Award from 2.3 GPA during a student’s freshman year to a 2.5 GPA and increasing the TOPS Honors Award from a 3.0 GPA to a 3.2 GPA.The seminar also suggested changes to the funding formula. The state gives 52 percent of funding based on a university’s credit hours that are determined by how many students are enrolled on the 14th day of class. SG wants to change the formula to determine hours at the end of the semester to avoid miscounting students who drop classes later in the semester.Students were encouraged to show support of the budget proposal by campaigning to legislators by visiting the Capitol in person or through e-mail, Upton said.____Contact Grace Montgomery at [email protected]