TOPS to reduce 60 percent of scholarships amount

Nicholls State University students will be paying more than half of their spring tuition as a result of the recent TOPS deficit, according to information released by the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Aid.

TOPS will cover only 41.8 percent of tuition at Nicholls. The scholarship will pay $1028.76 per semester for students with the Opportunity Award, $1112.36 per semester for students with the Performance Award and $1195.96 per semester for students with the Honors Award.

The stipend amounts for the Performance and Honors awards have also decreased. The Performance Award stipend is now a total of $83.60 and the Honors Award stipend is now a total of $167.20.

“We’re doing everything we can to provide resources for our students,” Eugene Dial, Associate Professor of Education and Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services, said.

Louisiana students will now have to be more resourceful in finding other ways to fund their education such as applying for other scholarships and grants and utilizing work-study programs.

“Staying aware of all the changes with regard to financial aid is the best encouragement I have for students,” Brandy St. Pierre, Assistant Director of Financial Aid and University Scholarships, said.

St. Pierre said that a simple Internet search for scholarships will generate millions of hits and she encourages all students to apply for whatever scholarships they find.

Students also receive a notice via the Inside Students bi-weekly newsletter as scholarships become available through Nicholls’ financial aid, departments and organizations. The Inside Students is sent to the students’ emails.

St. Pierre said that the scholarship office is planning to have spring 2017 scholarships available for students to begin applying as early as Thanksgiving.

The University also adjusted its payment plans for the semester. If a student’s financial aid covers half of the tuition for the semester, the University will allow that student to pay a portion of the remaining balance for tuition on March 1st and the remainder on April 1st.
Elizabeth Hidalgo, a junior secondary education major, said that she has already been using a website called Fast Web, and plans to continue to use it to help her find other scholarships available to her throughout the country.

“Fast Web makes it easy by pooling together scholarships that are a match for you based on what you put in your profile,” Hidalgo said.

Dial said that the main deterrent for students not applying for scholarships is they feel as though they won’t qualify.

“As long as students are diligent in what they are looking for, they will find some of the many scholarship funds that are out there for students to utilize,” St. Pierre said.

He also said that there are millions of scholarships, many of which that do not require much for an applicant to be eligible.

“Invest in yourself,” Dial said addressing students who don’t make time to apply for scholarships.

Dial said students who are worried about making up the difference in their tuition should spend as much or more time as they do with social activities on finding and applying for scholarships.

Over the past few years, the University has seen a slight increase each semester in academic scholarships being awarded, and both Dial and St. Pierre said they hope that number continues to increase.

The scholarship office urges any student who has only filled out the online TOPS application to set up a FAFSA profile. This opens a student in need of financial aid to all the other state and federal options for financial aid in addition to TOPS awards.

“We’re open all year if students in college or high school have questions,” said St. Pierre. “I think it’s definitely worth the effort.”