Is higher education spending in hot water?

One of the most often heard admonitions about government is that government should operate as a business.

Folks who seriously advocate that opinion would not be proponents of Louisiana’s Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, better known as TOPS.

Projected to approach a $300 million price tag next year, TOPS has no dedicated revenue source; it’s funded straight out of the state’s current red-hued general fund budget. The program has undergone several transformations since its 1989 inception as the Louisiana College Tuition Plan or LCTP, a merit-based program implemented during the Romer administration. It was later renamed as the Tuition Assistance Program – and included consideration of family income, but called for only minimum curricular and ACT scoring requirements.

The program became known as TOPS in the Foster administration, but the income requirement was eliminated and academic and ACT requirements were reduced. Finally, in 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal renamed the state’s largess as TOPS, Taylor Opportunity Program for Students in honor of the concept’s founder, Patrick Taylor.

In 1998, the program cost state taxpayers $54 million.

In 2016, it’s anticipated to cost Louisiana taxpayers nearly $300 million. That’s on top of the reported $1.9 billion the program has cost between 1999 and 2014. State law makers are presently looking at nearly a dozen TOPS-related bills in various attempts to ensure survival of the program – and what’s become the college funding plan for many Louisiana families.

But maybe it’s time for a concerted effort to seriously review all aspects of TOPS and a desperately needed revamp of the program.

While entirely well-intentioned, this TOPS is plagued by a couple of serious issues.

So, because there is no income limit for TOPS recipients, all state students who meet the minimum academic requirements are eligible for the scholarships.”

First, standards to qualify for TOPS assistance are minimal at best. Presently high school students can qualify for TOPS with a 2.50 grade point average (GPA) and a score of 20 on the ACT, regardless of family income. These benchmarks don’t comport with research that suggests college success is indicated by more serious higher education success predictors.

Some of those predictors: a GPA of 3.0 or higher, Advance Placement enrollment, notably higher ACT scores than currently required, and math and science achievement. Perhaps equally notable, students committed to higher education success completed the applications for a variety of federal program assistance, had low absentee rates, and demonstrated a high school commitment to excelling in higher education.

Students who haven’t met at least some of these benchmarks prior to college are less likely to successfully master the college curriculum and drop out. If they are TOPS recipients, those funds are wasted. Higher standards could make a difference to student success.

Next, according to the Louisiana Board of Regents’ last annual report, the number of TOPS recipients from middle and upper income families is increasing.

Then there’s the issue of tuition increases by our state colleges and universities as lawmakers cut state funding to these higher learning systems. As a result, these schools increase tuition to make up for the cuts. In response, TOPS awards are increased – meaning that the cost of TOPS is always on the increase.

Mediocre academic standing, an absence of income consideration, and the circumstance that tuition increases mean TOPS award increases are just a few serious indicators of the need for a thoughtful and comprehensive review of the TOPS program. And it can’t be done with a dozen disparate bills in a legislative session; this issue needs a dedicated period of study.

Lawmakers are encouraged to make that happen in the very near future – otherwise the TOPS annual price tag will simply continue to increase as will the annual wrangling about how to fund the program.

Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 17 years. She can be reached via email at martycarlson1218@ gmail.com.