Awards from Louisiana’s free college tuition program known as TOPS have gone disproportionately to white students over the last decade, and on average to students from wealthier families.
As The Associated Press reports, those are among details included in a new report released today to the Board of Regents that provides the first in-depth look at the demographics and household incomes of recipients in the tuition aid program, which is among the most generous in the nation.
Lawmakers sought the more detailed information as they worry about the skyrocketing price tag of the program, which costs $250 million in the current budget year and is projected to grow only more expensive. The report shows that from 2003 to 2014, 79% of the TOPS recipients were white and 58% were female.
The average household income for students who received the free college aid during the same time period ranged from $70,000 to $99,000—far above Louisiana’s median household income of $44,164. The program, formally known as the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, has been around since 1998. Louisiana has spent $1.9 billion on the program since it started. It provides scholarships to Louisiana high school students who complete a certain curriculum and who meet grade point average and college entrance test score requirements of at least a 2.5 GPA and a 20 on the ACT. Read the full story.
