A permanent decision has finally been made about the future of the TOPS scholarship program.

After a 74-21 vote, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved a bill that would cause TOPS no to rise with rates of tuition, and students will be expected to pay any tuition hikes after the spring of 2017.

The program is short $183 million of the $300 million necessary to give students a full scholarship for the next school year. If the money does not come up, students will likely only receive one-third of what
they expected.

In addition, if Louisiana fails to fix its budget crisis, legislators said that the only way to keep TOPS fully affordable would be to raise taxes.