LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Bulletin
TOPS BULLETIN NUMBER: T2002-7
DATE ISSUED: April 24, 2002
EFFECTIVE DATE: As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION:

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

TOPIC:

Processing TOPS Over Awards

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.

The TOPS Over Award provision (see TOPS Bulletin T99-17, July 1, 1999) exists to maintain recipient eligibility even if the student is not eligible for a TOPS payment due to multiple grant and scholarship awards, which with TOPS would exceed the student's Cost of Attendance. To allow these students to be processed for continuation on TOPS for future terms, they must be identified on our system. For these students, an Over Award notification can be forwarded to OSFA by two methods: 1) Institutions may bill for the amount of $9,999.99 for the appropriate term or semester, or 2) by indicating an "OA" on the TOPS Portal (see TOPS Bulletin T2001-22, November 7, 2001).

Over Award notifications are required ONLY when the student is not eligible to receive any portion of the TOPS award. If the student is eligible for a portion of the award, the institution would bill for that amount. Over Award notifications for a term or semester for which a TOPS payment has been made are rejected. Over Awards are processed as being an awarded semester or term and will advance the student's term count.

For additional information or questions, please contact jbell@osfa.state.la.