The Louisiana budget crisis continues to make most students wonder what will happen to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS). In February, the House and Senate began a Special Legislative Session.
“The special session was called to address the budget shortfall that the state faces for both the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 fiscal years,” said Vice President of Administration and Finance Sam Domiano.
There were no bills that have been passed during this session, but the Department of Legislative Reference has drafted bills.
“There were no bills during the special session that made changes to the TOPS program specifically,” said Domiano. “There are, however, bills that have been prefiled for the 2016 Regular Session that could result in changes to the program.”
The state of Louisiana is honoring the TOPS scholarship this semester, however the state will not be covering the entire amount, which means universities themselves will be covering the left over amount for this year. In result, this will cause a tremendous loss of money for Southeastern.
“Due to the states’ budget shortfall, the state will not be fully paying the amount owed to universities for the reimbursement of TOPS scholarships awarded to students for the Spring 2016 semester,” said Domiano. “Even though the awards to students were honored, the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance, the agency that administers the program, will only pay approximately 80 percent of what is owed to the universities. This results in a $2.1 million cut to Southeastern in the current fiscal year.”
More information on TOPS has yet to be released.
“As the 2016 Regular Session gets underway, we will begin to learn more about proposed TOPS legislation and how it may impact students, future students and universities,” said Domiano. “A listing of all prefiled bills can be found on the Louisiana Legislature website by clicking on ‘House Prefiled Bills for the 2016 Regular Session’ and ‘Senate Prefiled Bills for the 2016 Regular Session’.”
For more information go to legis.la.gov/legis/home.aspx.