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.

In accordance with TOPS Bulletin T2000-17, May 17, 2000, TOPS will pay Tuition and Stipend for the following Qualified Summer Sessions:

a. Summer Term Program Requirement;
b. Summer Term Graduating Senior; or
c. Summer Term Course Only Term Offered.

1. TOPS recipients who are prior Louisiana Honors recipients are eligible for Summer 2001 tuition and stipend payments without enrollment as a Qualified Summer Session, provided that they are enrolled for a minimum of 6 hours for all summer sessions. Prior LA Honors recipients who did not maintain the 3.00 Cum GPA, and thus are no longer eligible for a stipend, remain eligible for funding (without stipend) for the 2001 Summer Term.

2. The acceptance of TOPS awards for the 2001 Summer will count as one of the recipients 8 semesters or 12 terms; 10 semesters or 15 terms for prior LA Honors recipients. Recipients should be made aware of this use of one of their terms or semesters and should acknowledge this awareness in their request to the institution for TOPS 2001 Summer Funding. Recipients requesting 2001 Summer funding as Graduating Seniors are expected to graduate at the end of Summer 2001.

3. To be eligible for 2001 Summer Term awards, recipients must be eligible for fall 2001 awards based on Spring 2000 Academic Information and must be enrolled on the 1st day of the regular summer session.

4. Qualifying Summer Session documentation. Documentation will be retained by the institution as required by §1903.F of the TOPS rules.

a. Program Requirement: Documentation from the institution's Academic Officer that the individual or list of individuals are enrolled in a program that requires all individuals in that program level to enroll for Summer Term (example: Nursing Clinicals).
b. Graduating Senior: Documentation from the institution Registrar that if the individual completes courses designed for the 2001 Summer Term, he or she will graduate at the end of the 2001 Summer Term.
c. Summer Only Term Offered: Documentation from the institution Academic Officer that the course designated is required in the student's major and is only offered in the summer. (Example: Summer Field Camps.)

5. Institutions will utilize the TOPS 2001 Summer Term Manual Payment Request Form (STMPR), enclosed, to bill for the 2001 Summer Term.

6. TOPS 2001 Summer Term Manual Payment Requests should be submitted by July 6, 2001.

7. Institutional members of the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities should submit requests for payment of the lesser of tuition charged or $1,098.00; all other institutions should submit payment requests for the summer hours based on tuition amounts in effect as of January 1, 1998.

8. As indicated on the STMPR, the criteria under which each student qualified for the 2001 Summer Term (Program Requirement, Graduating Senior, Only Term Offered, or prior LA Honors) and the number of hours enrolled for the 2001 Summer Term, as well as the tuition and stipend amounts, must be entered for each student on the STMPR.

9. Institutions should submit questions concerning TOPS 2001 Summer awards to jbell@osfa.state.la.us. Students with 2001 Summer awards questions should call a Public Information and Communication representative at 1-800-259-5626, extension 1012.