Both UL Lafayette and it student are feeling a weight lifted off their shoulders after finding out that higher education and the TOPS program will continue to be funded.

“I’m so happy that our state legislators have found it important and a priority of our state to make sure that they did fund TOPS for our students,” says Dr. De Wayne Bowie, Vice President of Enrollment Management at the university.

Bowie says the outcome of the four month long budget battle is a win for a large part of the school’s student body. He tells News 10 that over 90% of UL’s incoming freshmen that are from Louisiana have TOPS.

He adds that because of this decision, there is a number of students who will now be able to attend college this fall, “We’re actually reaching out to those other students who were kind of waiting to see what was going to happen with TOPS and the funding, to let them know that now we have some really great news for them… That they can move forward with their plans to attend college.”

And Dr. Bowie tells us it’s not just the students that received good news this Monday. He says knowing higher education would continue to be funded was another step in the right direction for the university.