TOPS reform bill passes; Cost-saving measure

A measure to rein in the cost of TOPS, the state’s popular tuition-paying program, passed 74-20 through the House Monday and heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards, who favors it.   
Senate Bill 174, by Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, freezes the current level of TOPS awards irrespective of a tuition increases. It also permits the Legislature to raise the TOPS award floor amount in the future, but it would not automatically be related to tuition.     
The bulk of the TOPS increases -- since 2000 the cost to the state has more than tripled -- have been driven my tuition hikes.    
For the bill to save the state money, students would be required to pay the difference between increased tuition and the TOPS floor amounts.  
Once the GRAD Act, which gave colleges and universities limited tuition-raising power with legislative oversight, expires in 2017, the Legislature will have the sole power to raise tuition on a two-thirds vote.  
But a number of bills currently circulating in the Legislature would give those schools the authority to raise their own tuition. Tuition autonomy for schools has largely been off the table in past years because TOPS were tied to tuition.  
Donahue’s bill passed both houses last year before being vetoed by former Gov. Bobby Jindal, who called it a “cap.” Legislators who support the bill this session are calling the amount limit a “floor,” for the award amount.  
“We have to keep [TOPS] sustainable for our children to use in the future,” said Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, who presented Sen. Donahue bill in the House.  
Donahue’s bill is the only TOPS bill that has gained favor from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, for which the program is named,   
TOPS currently faces a shortfall of more than $180 million in the budget for fiscal year 2016-2017. That would revoke the scholarships for roughly 34,500 students, unless another measure allowing the money the state has to go to all students at a lower amount passes.