The state’s wildly popular TOPS scholarship could stop paying for 100 percent of tuition if a bill filed in the Louisiana Legislature is passed.
Senate Bill 50, by Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Baton Rouge, would cap the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students at 90 percent of the cost of tuition for whatever institution a student chooses to attend.
The cap would not apply to students who earn the TOPS Performance or Honors awards, which have stricter admissions requirements.
TOPS is divided into five different awards — the TOPS-Tech and TOPS-Tech Early Start awards, both of which apply to technical schools, and the Opportunity, Performance and Honors awards, which apply to universities like LSU.
The Opportunity award pays for tuition at a four-year institution, the Performance award pays tuition plus $400, and the Honors award pays tuition plus $800, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
To earn the minimum Opportunity award, a student must have a 2.5 high school GPA and make an ACT score equal to the state average, which is currently 20. Students earning this award will be affected by the cap and will only get 90 percent of tuition, instead of the full amount.
To earn the Performance award, a student must make a 3.0 high school GPA and an ACT of 23.
To earn the Honors award, a student must make a 3.0 high school GPA and an ACT of 27.
If a student can meet these standards, they will be unaffected by this legislation, because the Performance and Honors awards are exempt.
Jason Droddy, Director of External Affairs at the University, says bills to cap TOPS historically fail in the Legislature.
Because so many students qualify for TOPS, the program costs the state millions. But the program is one of the most popular in the state — a recent poll indicated 85 percent of Louisiana citizens want to see TOPS maintained in its current form.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]