Louisiana TOPS Scholarship: Eligibility, Award Tiers, and Renewal

To qualify for a Louisiana TOPS scholarship, you need to be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen, meet Louisiana’s residency rule, finish the 19-unit TOPS Core Curriculum in high school, and hit the GPA and ACT or SAT score attached to the award tier you want. Once you start college, you keep the award by enrolling full-time, earning at least 24 credit hours a year, and holding a cumulative GPA that steps up as your credits do. The Louisiana TOPS scholarship requirements sit in two halves: what you do before graduation, and what you do every year after.

Citizenship and Residency

You must be a U.S. citizen or fit one of the eligible non-citizen categories written into state law: a permanent resident who is eligible to apply for citizenship, a child of non-citizen parents serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, or a student who was not yet a citizen but applied within 60 days of turning 18 and completed the process within a year.¹

You or your parent also must have lived in Louisiana for at least 24 consecutive months before your high school graduation. Military families have separate rules, covered below.

The High School Coursework

Every applicant for the Opportunity, Performance, Honors, or Excellence award must finish the 19-unit TOPS Core Curriculum:²

English: 4 units (English I through IV; no substitutions like Business English)
Math: 4 units
Science: 4 units
Social Studies: 4 units
Foreign Language: 2 units in the same language
Art: 1 unit (performance courses in music, dance, or theater; studio or visual art; drafting; or Speech III and IV combined)

These courses cannot be waived. If your school doesn’t offer one, you are still responsible for completing it through dual enrollment, an approved online course, or another approved pathway. Miss a single unit and you are disqualified from TOPS entirely.² Students with a documented 504 Plan or IEP on file at their high school may qualify for a limited exception to specific core requirements.³

The Tech Award uses a different diploma pathway. It requires 23 units: 4 English, 4 Math, 2 Science, 2 Social Studies, and 9 elective units built around a Jump Start career sequence that includes workplace experiences and at least one industry-based credential.

GPA and Test Score by Award Tier

TOPS now has five tiers. Your GPA is calculated only on the core curriculum courses, not your overall transcript. Test scores must come from a single sitting; LOSFA does not accept superscores.⁴

Opportunity Award: 2.50 core GPA, ACT 20 or SAT 1030
Performance Award: 3.00 core GPA, ACT 23 or SAT 1130
Honors Award: 3.00 core GPA, ACT 27 or SAT 1260
Excellence Award: 3.50 core GPA, ACT 31 or SAT 1390
Tech Award: 2.50 GPA on the TOPS Tech Core, ACT 17 or SAT 920

The Excellence Award is the newest tier, created by Act 347 of the 2025 legislative session, and carries the largest payout.⁵ The SAT figures above come from LOSFA and apply to all five tiers.⁶

The Testing Deadline That Trips Students Up

You must earn a qualifying score by the April national ACT test date of your senior year. If you don’t reach the score until the June or July test date, LOSFA will permanently cut your award by one semester.⁴ Scores from tests taken after July are only counted if an earlier attempt was canceled for reasons outside your control, such as severe weather.

What TOPS Pays

The Opportunity, Performance, and Honors awards each pay the TOPS Award Amount at public institutions, a figure pegged to 2016–2017 tuition unless the legislature raises it. The dollar amount varies by school because tuition varies by school.⁷

Performance and Honors recipients also get a stipend on top of tuition. For 2025–2026, Performance adds $400 per year ($200 per semester) and Honors adds $800 per year ($400 per semester).⁸

The Excellence Award works on a different formula. At public institutions it pays tuition and fees or $12,000 a year, whichever is less. At LAICU private schools it pays tuition and fees or $8,500 a year, whichever is less.⁵

How To Apply

You apply by filing either the FAFSA or the TOPS Online Application. The FAFSA is usually the better choice because it also opens the door to federal grants and loans. The TOPS Online Application is for students who only want TOPS.

The 2026–2027 FAFSA pulls your family’s 2024 federal tax information.⁹ You will need Social Security numbers for the student and contributing parents, plus your Louisiana Student ID (sometimes called the LOSFA ID) assigned during high school.

For 2026 graduates, the priority deadline is February 1, 2026. The final deadline for full funding is July 1, 2027. After that, the penalty schedule kicks in:¹⁰

By July 1, 2027: Full 8 semesters
July 2 – August 30, 2027: Reduced to 7 semesters
August 31 – October 29, 2027: Reduced to 6 semesters
After October 29, 2027: No award

LOSFA verifies your records, then sends your award certification directly to your college’s financial aid office, which applies it to your bill.

Keeping TOPS in College

Qualifying is only half the picture. The renewal rules cost more students their awards than the initial ones ever do. LOSFA recalculates your cumulative GPA on its own using every hour you have attempted, including dual enrollment, summer, and repeats, and that number may not match your university transcript.

Full-Time Enrollment and Hours Earned

You must enroll full-time each term: at least 12 credit hours at semester schools or 8 at quarter schools. You must also earn (pass with a D or better) at least 24 credit hours during each academic year, counted from fall through the following summer. Remedial hours count toward the 24; AP and dual enrollment credits from high school don’t.¹¹

Fall short of 24 hours in an academic year and your award is permanently canceled unless you get an approved exception for cause.¹¹

Cumulative GPA Thresholds

GPA requirements rise as your credit total rises. For the Opportunity Award:¹²

Fewer than 24 hours earned: 2.00 cumulative GPA
24 to 47 hours earned: 2.30 cumulative GPA
48 or more hours earned: 2.50 cumulative GPA

Performance and Honors recipients face a stricter schedule:

Fewer than 24 hours earned: 2.00 cumulative GPA
24 or more hours earned: 3.00 cumulative GPA

If you hold a Performance or Honors Award and your GPA slips below 3.00 but stays above the Opportunity threshold, your award is permanently downgraded to Opportunity. You cannot climb back up.¹²

On top of the annual thresholds, every recipient must maintain Steady Academic Progress: a 2.00 cumulative GPA at the end of every semester, quarter, or session with reported grades. LOSFA does not round; a 2.499 is not a 2.50.¹²

How Long the Award Lasts

The Opportunity, Performance, Honors, and Excellence awards each fund up to 8 semesters (or 12 quarters) of undergraduate work. The Tech Award covers up to 2 years.¹³

Home-Schooled Students

Home-schooled students qualify through an alternate pathway. You don’t have to complete the TOPS Core Curriculum or meet the core GPA requirement. Eligibility rides entirely on your ACT or SAT composite, using the same tier thresholds as traditional students (ACT 20 for Opportunity, 23 for Performance, 27 for Honors, 31 for Excellence, 17 for Tech).¹⁴

You must have completed a BESE-approved home study program for both 11th and 12th grade. LOSFA will verify this with the Louisiana Department of Education if you indicate on the FAFSA or TOPS Online Application that you were home-schooled. Skip that step and you will need to send LOSFA copies of your BESE Home Study Approval Notifications for all four years of high school. When registering for the ACT, use home study school code 969999.¹⁴

Military Families

Children of military parents can satisfy the residency requirement even if the family was stationed elsewhere. Three scenarios qualify:¹⁵

The military parent is a Louisiana resident who was assigned to another state.
The parent is not a Louisiana resident, but the student lived in Louisiana for the last two full years of high school and graduated from an eligible Louisiana school.
An out-of-state military parent receives orders to Louisiana and changes residency to the state within 180 days of reporting.

Spouses of active military members may also request exceptions to continuous enrollment and full-time rules when orders disrupt their studies.³

When You Can Ask for an Exception

If you lose TOPS for failing to enroll full-time, maintain continuous enrollment, or earn 24 hours in an academic year, you can file a request for exception when the cause was beyond your control. You have six months from cancellation to submit the request, and you can also file preemptively.³

Valid grounds include a temporary or permanent disability, caring for a family member with a documented medical condition, and co-op or internship programs certified by your academic dean. Each requires specific documentation: a physician’s letter for medical situations, a dean’s letter for educational ones.

Several common assumptions are wrong. Taking time off to decide on a major does not qualify. Planning a wedding does not qualify. And there is no exception for missing the high school core GPA minimum or the college cumulative GPA threshold. If your college GPA drops below the required level, the award is gone, and an appeal will not bring it back.³

1
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 17 – RS 17-5022
2
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS Core Curriculum Q&A
3
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS Exceptions
4
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. ACT and SAT Information
5
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. The TOPS Excellence Award
6
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. ACT/SAT Information
7
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. The TOPS Opportunity Award
8
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. 2025-26 TOPS OPHE Award Calculations
9
Federal Student Aid. 2026-27 FAFSA Tax Information
10
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. Your Guide to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students 2025-2026
11
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS Renewal – Full-Time Enrollment, Continuous Enrollment and Annual Hours Requirements
12
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS Renewal – Grades Requirements
13
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. Your Guide to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students 2024-2025
14
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS Home Study Guide
15
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. Military Service and TOPS