Instead of instituting higher standards for TOPS, Louisiana lawmakers should make the popular college scholarship program need-based so the students who can least afford college can be eligible for the program, a new report from Tulane University says.
The report, released today by The Cowen Institute at Tulane, assesses the effect of proposed changes to the scholarship program if the Louisiana Legislature passes bills aimed at curtailing the bloated scholarship program. TOPS has a $187 million deficit for the 2016-17 school year.
Lawmakers are considering various changes to TOPS, a merit-based scholarship program. Changes include capping the awards program; making students attending private in-state colleges and universities ineligible for the program; requiring students to repay the scholarship if they drop out; and increasing the minimum GPA and ACT requirements.
Raising the ACT requirement by just one point would reduce the number of Louisiana students eligible for the TOPS Opportunity Award by 28%, the report says. Similarly, increasing the minimum GPA requirement from 2.5 to 2.75 would reduce the number of eligible students by 22%.
The Cowen Institute instead recommends that lawmakers make TOPS need-based so that students who can least afford college can still be eligible.
“If only students from families with incomes $50,000 or below were eligible for the program, TOPS would have cost a maximum of $84 million in 2015-16 rather than its actual budget of $267 million,” the report reads. “Total costs of the program would be cut by more than two-thirds.”
Other suggestions include instituting a sliding scale for the program so that award amounts will vary according to family income and tracking TOPS graduates to better assess the program.
