New Louisiana Bill Could Change TOPS Scholarship—and Cost Some Students More

BATON ROUGE, La. (KPEL News) – A new bill moving through the Louisiana legislature could bring the biggest changes to the state’s signature college scholarship program in decades.

House Bill 77 (HB 77), authored by Rep. Chris Turner (R-Ruston) and co-sponsored by House Education Chair Laurie Schlegel (R-Metairie), proposes a major overhaul to TOPS—the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students.

Get our free mobile app

The proposal would create a new top-tier award level for high-achieving students while also shifting the way award amounts are calculated for everyone else. And while that might sound like a good thing on its face, some critics warn the bill could lead to students paying more out of pocket—especially those attending Louisiana’s biggest universities.

What HB 77 Would Do

TOPS currently operates on a simple promise: if you work hard in high school and meet the GPA and ACT score requirements, the state will cover your full tuition at a public university or a set portion at private or specialty schools.

That promise has been tied to 2016–2017 tuition rates and hasn’t changed in almost a decade, even as college costs have continued to rise. HB 77 proposes two major changes: it sets maximum flat-dollar award caps, and it creates a new "Excellence" award tier for the highest-performing students.

SEE ALSO:

• Louisiana Can Now Track How Tax Dollars Are Spent on Education
• Best Public High Schools in Louisiana Ranked

Starting with students who enroll in college during the 2025–2026 academic year, HB 77 would eliminate the link to frozen 2016 tuition rates and instead cap award amounts. Students would receive either the capped award amount or their actual tuition and mandatory fees, whichever is lower.

Under this new structure, students receiving the base-level Opportunity Award could receive up to $6,000 per year. Performance Award recipients, who score at least a 23 on the ACT and maintain a 3.25 GPA, could receive up to $6,500.

Honors students, those scoring a 27 or higher with a 3.5 GPA, could receive up to $9,000. And the new Excellence Award—created for students who earn a 31 or higher on the ACT and maintain at least a 3.5 GPA—would offer up to $12,000 per year. Students in technical or proprietary programs would also see caps of $3,000 or $3,500, depending on their award level.

The bill also ensures that students who might qualify for more money under the current system are protected. For students enrolled in college as of the 2025–2026 academic year, the administering agency would compare the old formula to the new and award whichever amount is greater. But after that class, the new flat-rate system becomes the default.

Critics Say Biggest Universities Could Lose Millions

While the goal of the bill is to bring fairness and clarity to the scholarship system, not everyone is on board, particularly when it comes to how the bill would impact universities with higher tuition rates, such as LSU and the University of New Orleans.

As reported by the Louisiana Illuminator, critics point out that the flat caps would not cover the full tuition costs at schools like LSU, where the current TOPS base-level award is more than $6,500. That means students would begin to pay the difference out of pocket. Turner, the bill’s author, acknowledged that LSU and UNO could lose significant state funding under the new structure, though he argued that the new Excellence Award would help offset those losses by keeping high-performing students in-state.

But the Illuminator notes that LSU’s main campus has nearly 10,000 students who currently receive more than $6,000 from TOPS—and only a small percentage of those students would qualify for the new top-tier Excellence Award. UNO, which is already navigating budget shortfalls and declining enrollment, could be hit even harder.

Adding to the concern, a law passed last year gave Louisiana’s universities full autonomy to raise their own fees. That means schools could increase costs to match the new TOPS award caps—effectively canceling out any extra scholarship aid students might receive and increasing the total cost of attendance. Critics fear this could create a backdoor tuition hike disguised as reform.

Get our free mobile app

Some Good News: Expanded Support for High Achievers and the National Guard

To its credit, HB 77 doesn’t just flatten funding. It expands support in a few key areas that deserve attention.

Students who finish their undergraduate degrees early would be allowed to apply any remaining TOPS eligibility toward graduate school—so long as they continue meeting academic requirements and attend a qualifying Louisiana institution. That’s a smart move, rewarding efficiency and encouraging our top students to stay in-state for advanced degrees.

The bill also boosts stipends for National Guard members and disabled veterans who qualify for TOPS. Depending on their award level, these students could receive up to $2,000 per year in additional support for books and educational expenses, on top of their tuition coverage.

What It Means for You

On paper, HB 77 modernizes the TOPS program. It ties award amounts to today’s college costs, incentivizes high academic performance, and levels the playing field across schools. But it also quietly dismantles one of the program’s foundational principles—that any student who earns the scholarship gets full tuition covered at a Louisiana public university.

For many students, particularly those attending lower-cost institutions like McNeese or Nicholls, HB 77 may provide the same or even more than they get now. But for those at LSU, UNO, or other schools with higher tuition and fees, this bill could mean paying more (in some cases, thousands more) out of pocket every year.

The legislature will need to weigh those tradeoffs carefully. Lawmakers should ask whether fairness across institutions justifies asking students at our biggest universities to shoulder more of the cost. Because in the effort to treat every school equally, we may end up making the program less equitable for the students who need it most.