Lawmakers advance bill requiring TOPS repayment for students who lose scholarships

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The House Education Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would force students who receive TOPS scholarships to repay that money to the state if they lose their scholarship. After an amendment, the TOPS Honors and Excellence award categories are exempt from the repayment plan.

House Bill 385, by Rep. Dennis Bamburg, only applies to students who graduate high school during or after the 2025-2026 school year. Students would be forced to repay the scholarship dollars they have used up until becoming ineligible, not the totality of their four-year scholarship.

Students can lose out on their scholarships for many reasons, including failure to maintain a cumulative 2.3-2.5 GPA for TOPS Opportunity and a 3.0 GPA for TOPS Performance. Students would also become ineligible if they drop below a 2.0 GPA in any given semester.

Other enrollment requirements include “making steady academic progress while earning enough credits to maintain full-time status, maintaining a minimum required grade point average, and having no criminal conviction except for misdemeanor traffic violations,” according to the bill’s text.

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Other exemptions to the repayment plan include: parental leave, physical rehabilitation program, substance abuse rehabilitation program, temporary disability, permanent disability, exceptional educational opportunity, religious commitment, death of immediate family, military service, transfer to a selective enrollment program, unavailability of courses, natural disaster, and exceptional circumstances.

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