The Fight For Higher Education: Louisiana Lawmakers Talk TOPs Rollbacks

On Wednesday, February 7th, Louisiana lawmakers were unable to reach a compromise to keep TOPS funded for the upcoming school year.
With this move, the future of the program may be in jeopardy yet again as state legislatures were unable to make room in the budget to fund the ever-popular scholarship program. In what many are calling a “punt” from Louisiana lawmakers, it is very likely that the program will be funded in some way as other options will be evaluated by the full legislature during the spring session that will start on March 12th.
With many Louisiana residents who attend college in-state depending on TOPS and the government to find suitable means to sustain it, many wonder just how much of a priority the educational program is to the state.
In terms of priority to lawmakers, junior Agricultural Economics major, Mitchell Brown stated, “The government officials that make a ton of money should help contribute to the funding”. According to Brown, the fact that the vast majority of lawmakers in the country as a whole make up the infamous 1%. The fact that these individuals are the ones in charge of deciding how much money is given to help low-earning families afford post-secondary education is proof enough to many that perhaps the money isn’t the problem, but those in charge of the money may be.
Similarly, there are many who feel as though the current state legislatures are too trigger-happy when it comes to cutting funding for colleges.
Jeremiah Cornelius, a senior Mass Communications major from Baton Rouge, Louisiana commented, “I feel like whenever something has to get cut they always cut back from education.”For those of a similar mindset as Cornelius, if education was of such high priority to the government and government officials, then funding of said educational system would be their top priority.
According to Jim Henderson, President of the University of Louisiana system, has said that higher education leaders were told that close to $233 million would be cut from the program under Governor Edward’s budget proposal. Should this number be anywhere close to accurate, then more of students could be without a way to sufficiently afford college next fall.
While many are hopeful that better results are given during the spring session on the 12th of March, it is very likely that state lawmakers will be unable to provide adequate funding to TOPS.