LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Bulletin
TOPS BULLETIN NUMBER: T2000-28
DATE ISSUED: October 25, 2000
EFFECTIVE DATE: As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION: Louisiana High School Principals and Counselors, City and Parish School Board Presidents, School Board Superintendents, College and University, Technical College and LAICU Chancellors, Financial Aid Offices, Business Offices, Registrars and Auditors, System Governance, Board of Regents, Department of Education, Louisiana Officials, Louisiana Legislators, and Commission Members
TOPIC: TOPS Portals on the LOSFA Website

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.

On October 23, 2000, LOSFA debuted a new look on its homepage at www.osfa.state.la.us. In addition to our "facelift", we have incorporated a new way to access your TOPS records through "TOPS Portals." Students, and authorized high school, and college staff may now perform their on-line functions by clicking on one of the TOPS Portals located on the left side of the screen. The dramatic "journey" through the portal is intended to catch the eye of our student viewers, but can be skipped, if desired. Once in the portal, the user should click on the appropriate user type:

The following software specifications are recommended for best results when operating via the portal:

We encourage you to offer suggestions for on-line improvements which can be incorporated into future enhancements.

 

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TOPS Portal Instructions

The new TOPS Portal has nine options available from the College Menu. These options include the topics of the Master Roster, Payment Roster, Error Roster, Payment Request, Academic Information and Password Maintenance.

Listed below are the nine available options and their functions:

Master Roster Individual - This option will allow the user to view an individual record by social security number. Enter the SSN and do not include dashes. Ex: (123445678) Press the ‘New SSN' button to view the Master Roster record.

Master Roster Complete - This option will allow the user to view the entire Master Roster on-line. Fifty records are displayed at a time on your screen. The tool bar located above the list displays five tools for further navigation.

  1. NEXT – Displays the next 50 records
  2. PREVIOUS – Displays the previous 50 records
  3. Search by Name – This selection will allow for a name search on the Master Roster. Ex: Robert AND Thomas
  4. Download Master Roster – This selection will allow you to download the Master Roster file by single clicking the .dat file icon and save the file to your disk.
  5. Return to College Menu – This selection will return you to the College Menu.

Payment Roster by School – This option will allow you to list all of the records that have been paid for during the current academic year. The tool bar located above the list displays five tools for further navigation.

  1. NEXT - Displays the next 50 records
  2. PREVIOUS – Displays the previous 50 records
  3. Filter Roster by Date – This selection will allow for a date range view on-line.
  4. Download Payment Roster – This selection will allow you to download all or a selected date range of records:
    1. Enter selected date range and email address and single click the ‘Submit Download File Request' button.
    2. 10 to 30 minutes later, you will receive an email from OSFA with notification of your file being ready for pickup. This file will only be available for the next 3 hours. If you do not retrieve the file within the 3 hours, you must resubmit your request. Click the suggested URL address in the email and log in if requested. Click the .dat icon and save the file to your disk.
  5. Return to College Menu – This selection will return you to the College Menu.

Error Roster by School – This option will allow you to list all of the records that have had errors for the current academic year. The tool bar located above the list displays five tools for further navigation.

  1. NEXT - Displays the next 50 records
  2. PREVIOUS – Displays the previous 50 records
  3. Filter Roster by Date – This selection will allow for a date range view on-line.
  4. Download Error Roster – This selection will allow you to download all or a selected date range of records:
    1. Enter selected date range and email address and single click the ‘Submit Download File Request' button.
    2. 10 to 30 minutes later, you will receive an email from OSFA with notification of your file being ready for pickup. This file will only be available for the next 3 hours. If you do not retrieve the file within the 3 hours, you must resubmit your request. Click the suggested URL address in the email and log in if requested. Click the .dat icon and save the file to your disk.
  5. Return to College Menu – This selection will return you to the College Menu.

Payment Request – This option will allow the user to enter individual payment request. Once the desired fields are entered, click the word Add then Refresh Listing to review your entry. If adjustments are needed, click the social security number of the desired record and make the needed changes. Click Update and Refresh Listing to review your changes. You can also click Cancel to stop your edit or click Delete to delete the entire record.

Payment Batch File Transfer – This option allows for batch file transfers of payment requests. Click the ‘Browse' button and locate your file. Double click your file name. This should automatically fill in the Browse field. Next, click on the ‘Submit' button to send the file to OSFA.

Academic Information Update - This option will allow the user to enter individual grade reports. Once the desired fields are entered, click the word Add then Refresh Listing to review your entry. If adjustments are needed, click the social security number of the desired record and make the needed changes. Then, click Update and Refresh Listing to review your changes. You can also click Cancel to stop your edit or click Delete to delete the entire record.

Academic Information Batch File Transfer - This option allows for batch file transfers of grade reports. Click the ‘Browse' button and locate your file. Double click your file name. This should automatically fill in the Browse field. Next, click on the ‘Submit' button to send the file to OSFA.

Change Password/Password Maintenance – This option will allow for the security and maintenance of your TOPS Portal password. The password must be must be 8 - 15 chars long, at least 1 number and must include at least 3 letters. Select your password and enter it in the required field. Re-type your password for confirmation. Next, you will need to enter your email address and a challenge question and answer. Then click the ‘Submit Password Change' button for completion.

 

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