Analysis: Louisiana lawmakers renew talk of TOPS disparities
Debates about Louisiana’s free college tuition program known as TOPS are cyclical in the Legislature, cropping up every few years as lawmakers raise concerns about the program’s ballooning price tag or notice the disparities in who receives the aid.
The latest questioning came Wednesday in the House Appropriations Committee, prompted by charts showing much of the tuition aid goes to wealthier families and comparing TOPS spending to the significantly lower financing earmarked for need-based aid programs for college students.
It’s part of a perennial discussion at the Louisiana Legislature about who TOPS should help. Those discussions, however, have never generated significant change to one of Louisiana’s most popular entitlement programs.