Louisiana higher education leaders were trying to determine today how fallout of the first-ever budget cut to TOPS could impact campuses when it takes effect in the financial year that begins July 1.
LSU President F. King Alexander tells The Associated Press that other Southeastern Conference schools were reaching out to LSU’s TOPS students, hoping to persuade them to switch schools.
“They’re taking advantage of the TOPS uncertainty of our state,” Alexander says. “They’ve got a full-court press on, and they’re aggressively seeking our best and brightest.”
The final budget deal struck by Louisiana’s lawmakers took a lopsided approach to the TOPS college scholarship program, giving students full tuition funding for the fall semester and only 42% financing for the spring.
House leaders pushed for the front-loading of TOPS, saying they were hopeful the state could bring in more money than estimated from tax bills passed since March. If no new money arrives, House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry says the delay for the cut would give students and parents more time to ready for the reduction.
“The purpose of that is to give parents the opportunity to take out loans or do something else to prepare for that,” says Henry, R-Metairie.
Alexander won support from his system governing board to have more flexibility to give partial tuition and fee exemptions to students, to possibly address some of the TOPS cuts for needy or high-achieving students.
Gov. John Bel Edwards opposed the move pushed by House Republicans and could veto it, describing it as irresponsible policy. Senate leaders suggested they didn’t support the approach but approved it as part of a budget compromise struck in the final hours of the special legislative session.
The nearly 20-year-old TOPS program, much beloved among middle-class families, would cost about $294 million in the upcoming 2016-17 school year to fully cover tuition for the more than 50,000 eligible students. Lawmakers allocated about $88 million less than that, a 30% cut.
Democratic lawmakers opposed the approach taken to TOPS, saying cuts should be spread across both semesters, covering 70% of students’ tuition costs in both fall and spring.
