TOPS chopped 62% under governor's budget

Gov. John Bel Edwards presented a budget to the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday that would cut TOPS by $183.2 million for the next academic year, equating to a 62 percent cut to the program’s finances and excluding thousands of students receiving state money for tuition.
Nearly 46,000 students utilize the scholarship program, and if no reforms are made to its funding status, students with an ACT score of under 26 would be cut and an earned family income, no matter the ACT score, would be cut out of the program.
Sixteen proposals to change the program, in order to avoid the drastic financial and academic requirements, have been filed in the current legislative session and discussed during the special session with the most popular proposal coming from Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, who once again is proposing to cap TOPS payments and give universities tuition authority.
This would allow higher education institutions to raise tuition without the need of legislative approval, and students on TOPS would pay the difference between the scholarship and the institution’s tuition.
Edwards said in the committee hearing that he supports Donahue’s legislation.
While higher education bore the cuts to TOPS this fiscal year, Louisiana students, not higher education, will be responsible for any cuts to the program for the next fiscal year.