More than just retain more higher education students in state, the Louisiana Legislature should expand on a bill to make the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students a true merit-based award.
TOPS guarantees that if a graduating high school senior in Louisiana achieves certain mediocre standards that the state will pay a substantial portion of higher education tuition. Until about a decade ago all tuition was covered, leaving only fees unsubsidized (although higher achievement above the lowest standards merited an additional stipend), but then the level was decoupled from tuition increases and a gap began to grow. For example, the present reimbursement of in-state non-accelerated program tuition at my institution leaves a gap of $283.68 or just over 5 percent for the annual 30 hours, not including $1,712.64 in other fees (this is for the basic Opportunity qualifier; higher ACT scores could push a qualifier into the Performance or Honors category where stipends of $400 or $800, respectively, are given).
The gaps, it is claimed, are part of the reason why a slow by sure decline in number of Louisiana graduates accepting TOPS awards. In response, Republican state Rep. Chris Turner has filed HB 77 that would increase the minimum award for each TOPS level that in many cases exceeds the highest tuition and fees now charged (there would be a few exceptions, such as those Louisiana State University makes to admit certain students that otherwise wouldn’t meet Board of Regents-defined standards, but many of the exceptions come in under other scholarship programs). It also would create a fourth category for the highest achievers, Excellence, with a larger bonus (keep in mind, however, that Honors winners wouldn’t even meet the admission standards at some flagship universities in other states, while Excellence winners would).
This could stem, at least partially, the drain of graduates turning down TOPS to head to out-of-state schools, but it would come at a cost. No fiscal note as yet has been issued for the bill, but a back-of-the-envelope estimate puts the additional cost at $35 million annually. This could stall the bill, although perhaps new revenue forecasts before the legislative session ends might come up with enough of this in recurring dollars.
But there’s a more assured way to have access to enough funds to accomplish what should be the purpose of TOPS: ensure that meritorious students have their educational expenses paid for at a state school. Because that’s not what TOPS does now, operating instead like an entitlement program with such low qualification standards that any student who can scrape out of high school with an ACT even worse than the national average gets a free ride.
The bill needs to be more ambitious, by eliminating entirely the lowest Opportunity award that would set TOPS on a course to be a true scholarship program rewarding excellence. The Performance award standard – ACT of 23 rather than 20 – should be the minimum to qualify. Of the $270 million spent on the program this academic year, $115 million went into subsidizing students scoring less than 23. Possibly as much as $100 million could be saved by rolling this feature into the bill while covering the higher costs for the somewhat more than half remaining students plus others who wouldn’t otherwise attended a state school at the lower level.
As for those savings, half could go to funding the budget request for the new LA GATOR educational savings vouchers, which would improve education quality for elementary and secondary school students which could translate into higher ACT scores down the road. The other half could expand dramatically need-based aid, which could help many of those with ACT scores under 23 who under the new rules would be denied a TOPS award.
The bill does an excellent thing in introducing the Excellence award, but paying out more to mediocre, if that, students isn’t a good use of taxpayer dollars. Using it as a vehicle to weed out the mediocrity encouraged by TOPS would make it excellent all around.
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