LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Bulletin
TOPS BULLETIN NUMBER: T2001- 16
DATE ISSUED: September 12, 2001
EFFECTIVE DATE: As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION:

Louisiana College and University, Technical College and LAICU Chancellors, Financial Aid Offices, Business Offices, Registrars and Auditors, System Governance, Board of Regents

TOPIC:

New Process Codes and August Billing Information

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.

Act 1221 of the 2001 Regular Session of the Legislature makes it possible for a student who has completed 10 or more Honors Courses graded on a 5.0 grading scale, who has earned a minimum 3.0 converted grade point average, at least a 24 cumulative ACT score and meets all other mandated requirements to receive the TOPS Performance Award. Also, Act 1053 allows a high school to waive a core curriculum course that is not offered by the high school through school year 2002-2003. Because of these changes, LOSFA is currently sending new Certification Forms to high schools to identify students who may now qualify for a higher TOPS Award. We are implementing NEW PROCESS CODES to enable the post-secondary institutions to identify those students on the Master Roster who may be affected by this legislation.

Updated process codes only appear on the Master Roster for one week, then revert back to process code 00 (No Change). A list of all process codes is attached for your files.

Additionally, in order for us to conclude our end of the fiscal year processing, billing will not run on August 9. Any billings that are submitted electronically during that time will be held and processed when billing resumes, August 23, 2001.

Questions concerning TOPS processing and billing should be directed to John Bell at jbell@osfa.state.la.us or phone 1-800-259-5626, ext. 1113.

TOPS MASTER ROSTER –DATA DESCRIPTION - 04/16/01
FROM
TO
LENGTH
FIELD NAME
FIELD DESCRIPTION
1 9 9(09) SSNNBR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
10 25 X(16) LASTNAME LAST NAME
26 34 X(09) FIRSTNAME FIRST NAME
35 35 X(01) MIDINTL MIDDLE INITIAL
36 37 X(02) AWARDSEL

AWARD LEVEL
TU = UNCONFIRMED
TO = OPPORTUNITY
TP = PERFORMANCE
TH = HONORS
OT = PRIOR TAP (OPPORTUNITY)
OH = PRIOR LA HONORS (PERFORMANCE)
TT = TOPS TECH ONLY
RO = RENEWAL OPPORTUNITY
RP = RENEWAL PERFORMANCE
RH = RENEWAL HONORS
RT = RENEWAL TECH

38 39 9(02) STIPAWRCD STIPEND ELIGIBILITY CODE
00 = ELIGIBLE FOR STIPEND
01 = INELIGIBLE FOR STIPEND
40 41 9(02) NATGURAWR NATIONAL GUARD AWARD ELIGIBILITY CODE
00 = ELIGIBLE FOR STIPEND
01 = INELIGILBE FOR STIPEND
42 43 9V9 TERMCNTMR NUMBER OF TERMS PAID TOPS
44 47 9(04) ACADYR ACADEMIC YEAR OF AWARD / CCYY
48 49 9(02) PROCESSCD PROCESS CODE
00 = NO CHANGE
01 = NEW RECORD
02 = AWARD LEVEL ASSIGNED
03 = NO LONGER ELIGIBLE
04 = AWARD LEVEL CHANGED DUE TO RE-EVALUATION
05 = LOSS OF STIPEND ELIGIBILITY
06 = LOSS OF ELIGIBILITY (AUDIT FINDING)
07 = STUDENT HAS A START SAVINGS ACCOUNT
08 = HIGHEST ACADEMIC TERM PAID
09 = ONLY TERM ELIGIBLE FOR PAYMENT
10 = RENEWAL PROCESSING PENDING
11 = AWARD LEVEL RE-EVALUATION PENDING
12 = AWARD LEVEL CONFIRMED
50 57 9(08) PROCESSDT PROCESS DATE / CCYYMMDD
58 59 9(02) STATUSCD STATUS CODE
00 = NEW ELIGIBLE
01 = APPROVED RENEWALS
03 = INELIGIBLE OTHER
06 = INTERNAL AUDIT
40 = GRADUATED
42 = SUSPENDED-DUE TO COLLEGE GPA
44 = CANCELLED-DUE TO HOURS
46 = AWARD NOT ACCEPTED – FIRST YEAR
49 = CANCELLED-SUSPENDED MORE THAN 2 YEARS
50 = AWARD NOT ACCEPTED – SECOND YEAR
51 = AWARD NOT ACCEPTED - MORE THAN 2 YEARS
53 = DEATH
54 = MAXIMUM YEARS OF AWARD REACHED
60 = CANCELLED-DUE TO NON-CONTINUOUS ENROLLMENT
61 = OFFICIALLY RESIGNED
91 = RENEWAL PENDING
60 67 9(08) STATUSDT STATUS DATE / CYYMMDD
68 73 X(06) OTERMELIG ONLY TERM ELIGIBLE FOR PAYMENT
74 79 X(06) TERM6 LAST TERM PAID
80 80 9(01) STARTOWNER START ACCOUNT BENEFICIARY