By JESSICA FENDER
Capitol news bureau
Two bills that would have drastically changed the state’s most-popular tuition program died Thursday in a Senate committee.

One would have excluded middle- and upper-income students from the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students.

Another would have converted TOPS to a loan program. Students who did not keep their grades or credit hours high enough to keep the scholarship would have had to pay the state back for the amount of the award.

The defeat of the two bills means TOPS will emerge unscathed from this legislative session, said Rep. Carl Crane, R-Baton Rouge.

“We have a couple of bills on the House side, but I think overall TOPS is safe for the session,” said Crane, chairman of the House Education Committee. “It means students can feel safe … that we’re not changing TOPS midstream.”

TOPS pays the college tuition of state high-school graduates with qualifying test scores and academic records. It costs $120 million a year to run.

Because of its cost and high visibility, the program is frequently targeted during legislative sessions.

Only students from families with incomes at or below the national poverty line — currently $20,000 a year for a family of four — would have been eligible for TOPS awards under Sen. Cleo Fields’ proposal.

The Baton Rouge Democrat’s bill would have left intact other eligibility thresholds such as grade-point averages and test scores.

Senate Bill 280 was deferred at Fields’ request. He asked that lawmakers study the issue.

Also deferred was Sen. Rob Marionneaux’s Senate Bill 330 to require certain freshmen who leave school to pay back their awards.

The Grosse Tete Democrat said it’s a way to make sure first-year students toe the line.

He argued that students would take college more seriously if there was financial incentive.

Sen. Chris Ullo, D-Harvey, made a successful motion to defer the bill.

“What you have here right now, you’d be depriving students of what they’ve already earned,” Ullo said.

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