To assure that your Scholarship and Grant Policy and Procedure Manual remains current, please record this document on your TOPS Bulletin index and retain it with your manual.

Students documented by LOSFA as permanently disabled are now allowed to retain and use their TOPS award while enrolled for less than full-time hours.

Institutions specified by these students will be notified by letter that the student has been approved for the Exception to Full-Time Enrollment on the basis of Permanent Disability and that the recipient has the option of enrolling for less than the number of hours considered full-time by the institution. Our notification to the institution will include a copy of the student’s approval letter and a Manual Payment Request-Permanent Disability (MPR-PD), copies of which should be used to submit any payment requests for the student each term on or following the 14^th class day.

LOSFA will compute a unique term count for the student using the semester or quarter tuition as a percentage of the full-time tuition on file for that institution. The number of part-time terms for which the student will be eligible shall be determined by the amount of tuition the student is charged compared to the institution’s charge for full-time tuition.

This methodology will allow the student to receive the equivalent of the maximum award of eight full-time semesters or twelve full-time quarters.

Methodology:

(full-time tuition) x semester (.5) or quarter (.3) factor = term count

LAICU schools will receive the weighted average as designated by law or the part time amount charged, whichever is less.

Performance and Honors awardees will receive the full stipend each term until the total stipend disbursements reaches $1,600 for Performance level or $3,200 for Honors level. LOSFA will suspend the stipend when the total stipend disbursement reaches the amount corresponding to the TOPS level of the recipient. The STIPEND DENY indicator on the Master Roster will indicate to institutions that further request for stipends will not be honored.

Grades and hours for these students should be reported as usual. Our system edits will allow for these students to continue with less than 24 hours earned per year. They are still required to maintain satisfactory academic progress and grade point average for retention.

TOPS does not pay for any charges or fees charged to student for special accommodations, tutoring, special aids, etc. These extra charges are the responsibility of the student.