In a state-wide televised speech Thursday evening, Governor John Bel Edwards addressed Louisiana’s budget including a $42 million cut to higher education.  According to Edwards, some campuses may be forced to declare financial bankruptcy, which would include massive layoffs and the cancellation of classes.

Those cuts also include a $28 million cut in Taylor Opportunity Program or Tops for Students scholarship funds.

As a result of the current budget crisis, the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance alerted colleges and universities late this Thursday afternoon that they were stopping TOPS payment.

News of the TOPS suspension is a bombshell for students and families who rely on the scholarship money to pay for higher education.  Of the 19,033 students currently enrolled at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 5,900 receive tops.

“One of my classmates texted me and my jaw literally dropped.  I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t think it was true,” said Rachel Fulmer, a Junior Biology major at UL Lafayette.

Fulmer’s parents live in New Roads, so moving back home to save money isn’t an option.  Neither is working enough hours to cover tuition out of pocket on top of a demanding school schedule.

“TOPS pays for almost everything.  Right now I’m already 3,800 dollars in debt which is scary.  I’m going to have to take out more loans.  I have so much more schooling to go.”

Fulmer plans to attend Physician Assistant School after college.

Students like Ben Holt, a senior at UL Lafayette are left wondering how a scholarship he and many others strived for in high school can be dissolved.

“If somebody earns TOPS, it’s something that’s guaranteed to us whenever we work hard enough to earn that.  I think that’s something we should be guaranteed for four years, you know, at least.”

On Thursday, calls from devastated families and students flooded the office of Lafayette Parish State Representative Vincent Pierre.

“Kids next year may not be able to receive TOPS and that means families will have to come up with more to send their children to school when we’re in an economy that doesn’t have the funding and that’s disheartening.”

If legislators do not find a solution, students enrolled in TOPS may end up owing whatever they haven’t paid off for the semester.