By: HARLAN KIRGAN
LSN Editor
EUNICE -- LSUE, which experienced nearly a 16 percent increase in enrollment this fall, now faces the question about how enrollment will be affected by a cut in TOPS payments.
In the spring semester, TOPS will pay for 41.8 percent of the tuition.
Van Reed, LSUE public information officer, said, “We are kind of worried students are not paying attention to that yet.”
Registration is taking place for the spring semester, he said.
“I think once students register and see their fee bills that’s when it is going to click in with “what happened to my TOPS?’”
In the fall, TOPS paid $1,261, but in the spring students will only receive $567.
“We don’t know the impact yet,” Reed said of the reduction in TOPS payments.
“Will people leave Baton Rouge and UL systems to start herewhere it is cheaper?” he said.
Kate Herke, public information officer for the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance, said legislators approved 70 percent of the full funding this year.
It’s the first time TOPS scholarships do not cover the cost of tuition for students attending Louisiana’s public colleges and universities.
There are about 51,000 students receiving TOPS in the 2016-17 school year.
LSUE student Heidi Pitre said she hasn’t heard from many students about the TOPS reduction.
“I’ve heard a couple of people actually set up gofundme pages because they can’t afford to go to college if TOPS gets cut that much,” she said.
LSUE had 512 students who received a total of $665,547 this fall. If TOPS had been fully funded they would have received $718,256.
Annual resident tuition and fees for 12 hours per semester at LSUE is $4,258, according to information at the Board of Regents website. At LSU Baton Rouge, the cost is $10,748.