ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / January 14, 2000

LAPLACE – At a Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday, oilman Pat Taylor and state Rep. Bobby Faucheux assured the public there will be no changes tothe Tuition Opportunity Program for Students or TOPS, the state funded law that pays the full college tuition for Louisiana high school students.

Before a large crowd at Bull’s Corner Restaurant, Taylor said that because of misunderstandings and bureaucratic meddling he and Faucheux seemed to be on a collision course.

Taylor, who is the architect and main force behind the TOPS program, has helped more than 25,000 students in the past 10 years to attend college even if they cannot pay for the education. Taylor lobbied the stateLegislature to enact a law that said any Louisiana high school student with a 2.1 grade-point average and a 20 on the ACT test could get statemoney to attend college.

“This program has nothing to do with a family’s income,” said Taylor. “Theonly qualifications are academic.”Since it’s inception, the program has been a huge success and has been copied in 13 other states. According to Taylor, next year’s entire freshmanclass at LSU will all be tuition free.

“LSU is the only college in the United States that can claim this,” said Taylor, “and that is because of TOPS.”Last December, Faucheux was a bit concerned about the number of college graduates leaving the state after they graduated. He made a resolution inthe state Legislature to study the problem.

“It was my intent,” said Faucheux, ” to see what kind of jobs we could get to keep the graduates here in Louisiana.”However, Taylor said certain bureaucrats in the state Department of Education took the resolution to mean that Faucheux wanted to make it mandatory that TOPS graduates stay in the state after graduating from college. Someone was trying to change the TOPS program from a grant to astate loan, which is totally contrary to what Taylor envisions TOPS to be.

Taylor specifically blames Jack Guin, the executive director of Student Financial Assistance in the Department of Education, for the misunderstanding.

“Guin is breaking promises to students who are TOPS eligible,” said an angry Taylor. “It is simply shameful.”Taylor and Faucheux are also upset because Guin used state money to hire consultants to do a survey on out-of-state job opportunities.

“All we wanted to do was find out what these kids were graduating in,” said Taylor. “We don’t need Guin and bureaucrats to do that.”Faucheux agreed. “I just wanted to find out what jobs we could get intothe state to bring employment opportunities to our kids,” he said. “Ialways wanted to keep TOPS as a grant, never a loan.”Faucheux is going to ask Guin to quit spending money on the study, and he will cancel the resolution putting an end to the controversy.

Taylor said that as long as TOPS is in place, the state will get the jobs it needs in the future.

“As the kids graduate from college, thanks to TOPS, ” said Taylor, “the business environment in the state will improve. As we educate our people,businesses will move down here and create jobs.”Faucheux agreed. “The ultimate goal of TOPS is to bring jobs to Louisiana.”

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