Twenty-four credit hours a year and a 2.50 cumulative GPA. These are the basic requirements students have to fulfill in order to retain their TOPS award.
Students who fail to achieve these standards lose their TOPS, no questions asked. However, some students have begun to question whether these standards should apply to everyone.
Students who have earned a TOPS Scholarship can choose any major ranging from art to zoology. With each major, there is a different curriculum one has to follow in order to earn that degree.
Some students think separate criteria should be established so students undertaking a tougher curriculum are not at an unfair advantage when it comes to maintaining their TOPS.
“Some majors are tougher than others, because they require a lot more outside knowledge that may not come as naturally as a talent like art,” said Arvid Cristina, a mass communication senior.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and Planning Robert Kuhn said changes to the TOPS program are not impossible or uncommon.
“TOPS is a fairly new program for the Louisiana educational system,” he said. “However, adjustments to the current criteria would not take place at the University level.”
The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance is also unable to make adjustments to the current system.
Director of Public Information and Communications division of LOSFA Gus Wales said any plans to change or amend the current standards would take an act of legislature.
Cristina believes a weighted grading scale may be the change which needs to be made.
According to counselor Andree’ L. Reynaud at the University College Center for Advising and Counseling, LSU computes a student’s grade point average on an unweighted grading scale where the highest GPA possible is a 4.0.
Under this system, As are assessed four points, Bs are three points, Cs are two points, Ds are one point, and Fs are worth zero points.
“Weighted systems assign different values to grades,” said Reynaud. “For example, depending on the system, an A-plus can be five points.”
Pam Shao, a veterinary sciences freshman, finds a weighted grading system is favorable. “Medical majors do have it a lot harder than other majors like communications or art,” Shao said. Shao also said GPA pressures are already felt by medical students, and the worry of losing TOPS funding would only add stress to their lives.
Weighted grade systems seem to appeal to students who want to take challenging majors because they do not jeopardize TOPS awards’ GPA standards.
However, students are unsure of how to determine which courses are challenging and whether one major is more difficult than another.
“The difficulty of a major or class directly correlates to the perspective of a student,” said Ashley Clement, a mass communication sophomore.
This is one reason students like Erica Washington, a biological sciences freshman, do not think the current system should be altered.
“I can see how the degree of difficulty in some courses can cause students to be concerned about losing their funding,” said Washington. “However, people should be aware of the risk when they choose their major and prepared to do the work necessary to maintain their grades.”
Kerry Gotschall, a music sophomore, said students have forgotten that the TOPS award is just that — an award.
“I’m from Texas and I believe the TOPS award is a great benefit to Louisiana students. Choosing a difficult major just means more work. The scholarship’s GPA standards should not change; a person’s work ethic should,” said Gotschall.
If the answer is not changing TOPS’ GPA standards, students also have looked at changing the credit hour requirement.
“There is definitely a higher chance that people with harder curriculums will have to drop a class,” said ISDS sophomore Jay Brown. “However, after a certain date we can’t add a class to take the place of the one we had to drop. This causes some students to drop to part-time status and lose their awards.”
Still other students find themselves at a loss in the debate between TOPS requirements and majors. Shane Bollinger, a geology junior, refuses to take a side.
“I can understand both sides of the issue,” he said. “However, I don’t think that the requirements should be changed unless they would, without a doubt, accommodate everyone.”