TOPS bill that would cut link to tuition wins final passage

BATON ROUGE - A bill that would put the value of TOPS awards in the deep freeze rather than allow them to rise with tuition was met with House approval Monday.It’s the first reform to the popular tuition program of the legislative session so far to win final passage.The governor has already said he’ll sign the bill to make it law.Senate Bill 174, designed by Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, will rein in the cost of TOPS, which officials say has jumped to nearly $300 million this y