There’s an effort in the legislative session to increase the award amounts for TOPS recipients. It’s held steady since the 2016-17 school year. Ruston Representative Christopher Turner’s bill would increase state funding for the TOPS scholarship program by 50 million. Turner says the scholarship amount needs to be increased because college costs a lot more than it did when he went to school.
“I was slinging groceries at night, and I can afford to go to school, you can’t afford to work overnight and pay for Louisiana Tech, LSU, Southeastern, Nicholls,” Turner said.
However, Lake Charles Representative Phillip Tarver is against Turner’s proposal because he wants to reduce state spending.
“We’re drawing the line in the sand, we’re stopping, I’m not going no more,” Tarver said.
Under Turner’s proposal, a TOPS recipient would receive three thousand dollars to attend a two-year technical school. TOPS Opportunity recipients would get six thousand dollars, TOPS Performance 65-hundred dollars, TOPS Honors nine-thousand dollars, and a new scholarship award would be created, called Excellence, and those students would receive $11,300.
“And the Excellence Award is for anybody who scores a 3.5 GPA or scores a 31 or higher on the ACT, it’s a way for us to keep to compete and keep our best and brightest in the state at all the four-year universities,” Turner said.
Under the proposal, students at LSU and LSU Health New Orleans would receive an additional $350 a semester, since those schools are more expensive to attend.
The House Education Committee has approved the bill. It still needs to be reviewed by Appropriations before it gets a vote on the House floor.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
