Applying for scholarships and collecting enough student loans to feed the hungry beast of academia can be a nightmare for college students, but many students across Louisiana find solace in the saving grace of the state’s Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) scholarship.
The Louisiana state government pledges to pay the college tuition of all students within the state who graduate high school with a GPA of at least 2.5 and a score of 20 or higher on the ACT, so long as they attend a university within the state of Louisiana.
However, providing so many students with such an opportunity comes at a price. According to the state House of Representatives Fiscal Division, TOPS will cost approximately $168 million in taxes this year. With the rising of university tuition across the state, the cost of TOPS is expected to escalate to as much as $233 million. Needless to say, the TOPS program will leave Louisiana financially devastated unless the program is altered to be less costly.
One of the proposed solutions to this problem is to raise the academic standards for students receiving the scholarship, a solution that I endorse. Since the introduction of the TOPS program, 36 percent of its recipients have lost TOPS by failing to maintain the scholarship requirements in college.
The money shelled out to these students until the semester in which their scholarship was revoked is lost, flushed down the academic toilet. I believe that the GPA standards for the TOPS program should be increased to at least a 3.0. Yes, this will cut down on opportunities of higher education for much of Louisiana’s students, but the state cannot afford to fund the education of every person in the state, and by giving TOPS to students of only average merit, money is being taken away from the dedicated, hardworking students that are more likely to obtain a degree. Likewise, it will decrease the chance of tax money being wasted on students that do not even end up with a degree.
A free education should be viewed as a privilege, not a right. TOPS is a great program for those who otherwise would not have access to a college education, but the government should not be doing all the work. We students must strive to earn the opportunities provided by TOPS, or be swept away in the pools of mediocrity.