re: Why do Louisiana conservatives like TOPS?

There's no ignorance. People are waking up and realizing they're sick and tired of this social program. Instead, they'd rather have a tax cut. TOPs costs taxpayers approx. $300 mil. a year. Can you imagine the tax cut we could get if they eliminated TOPs??

It's a SOCIAL program. There's no guarantee the state will ever get it back. I'd like to see a study of how many kids who get it leave the state after graduation?

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There's no guarantee the state will ever get it back.

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He asked me why I liked it. All my kids are now graduates and employed in La. Paying income tax, sales tax, gas tax, DMV fees, etc

They will pay everything back that they used thru TOPS. Trust me

I personally like how the HOPE scholarship is set up for UGA kids.

Why is this so hard to understand? The state only contributes approximately 20% to universities. You could eliminate every university in this state and not save that much $. Hell, they might as well go private. It's a political talking point. If you want to cut big $, you got to go to the areas of the budget that get the overwelming amount of money (public education and healthcare). Public education has NEVER been cut and is full of FAT, WASTE, and INEFFICIENCES. BUT, no one wants to go there.. Cut public education funding and let the parishes primarily fund it, just like every other state. Also eliminate TOPS while you're at it. AND then give everyone who pays taxes a huge tax cut.

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Why is this so hard to understand? The state only contributes approximately 20% to universities. You could eliminate every university in this state and not save that much $.

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When the state is BROKE, $1 of wasteful spending is too much. Not hard for me to understand. Besides, the trajectory is wrong. AND one less political knob to deal with.

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Hell, they might as well go private.

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I would be all for just eliminating the 20% state funding, AND whatever federal funding these schools get and let them operate as true private schools.

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It's a political talking point.

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They're ALL political talking points. Depends on which side of the aisle you're on as to how you spin it.

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If you want to cut big $, you got to go to the areas of the budget that get the overwelming amount of money (public education and healthcare). Public education has NEVER been cut and is full of FAT, WASTE, and INEFFICIENCES. BUT, no one wants to go there.. Cut public education funding and let the parishes primarily fund it, just like every other state. Also eliminate TOPS while you're at it. AND then give everyone who pays taxes a huge tax cut.

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Agreed.

I do not like the TOPS welfare. Not many states have such things and they all seem to have better schools than we do.

Cut it all out before you raise my taxes again.

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You can be a conservative but not an ideologue. My kid got decent out of state scholarship offers, but he is going to LSU. One of his main motivations was TOPS. If you want to get rid of TOPS, fine. But announce now that you're doing it in 4 years. Don't pull the rug out from under people who have relied on the promise.

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Well, what if they're in the 8th grade?

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ACT is a great tool because everyone takes the same test and is on the same playing field.

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I have heard "The ACT is racist" more times than I care to count.

Not to mention, the whining about "Sally Smith just isn't a good test taker"

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It just seems like it should somehow be tied to staying in state on a 1:1 year basis over th next 10 years..or, have to pay some of it back.

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I'm with you, but that requires jobs in their field, and LA has a well known shortage of entry-level jobs in many college-educated fields.