TOPS (Taylor Opportunity Program for Students) provides funding to graduates of Louisiana high schools. On a monthly basis, we report grade change data to the LOSFA (Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance), which is the custodian of the TOPS program. This grade change data can affect credits earned and GPA, which can affect the amount of funding a student can receive.
The peak periods of requests are generally the beginning and end of the semester.
Grades are reported both monthly and weekly (if necessary) to LOSFA and entered manually in their website.
Monthly
A monthly report is emailed to Michelle Landry and Nicole Westerfield on the 8th of each month. This report includes all retroactive grade changes for all TOPS eligible students that must be reported to LOSFA by the 15th of each month. A copy of this report can also be requested at help@tulane.edu.
Recalculate hours
Each student’s earned hours, quality hours, and quality points must be recalculated without +/- for the term needed prior to being reported to LOSFA. This is automatically done in the monthly report.
Collect biographical data
If not provided in the report, collect biographical data from SPAIDEN.
Enter on the LOFSA website
Enter information on LOFSA website for each student.
Once logged into https://www.osfa.la.gov/, go to the ACADEMICS tab and click the “TOPS Grade Submit” Button.
Click the “Add” button.
Enter each student’s information individually using their SSN from Banner or the report:
Field | Value |
|---|---|
Academic Term | Term codes are by academic year ending with the Spring term. Coding is by semester followed by the year of the Spring term.
Examples:
|
Program Type | Academic |
Ethnic Code | Provided on report or available in SPAIDEN |
Academic Standing |
|
Click “ADD” and “CLOSE” – This will take you back to the yellow box screen, where you will have to click “ADD” again to add the next student.
Repeat each step for every student that needs to be reported.
Upload spreadsheet to Registrar Box folder for correct month and year. https://tulane.app.box.com/folder/202911632191
Weekly
If there are students who need their grades sent to LOSFA prior to the monthly update, our Financial Aid partners will enter the students’ information into the TOPS folder.
Access the Box folder to identify new grade changes. This should be done on a weekly basis and is usually done on Mondays.
Recalculate hours. Each student’s earned hours, quality hours, and quality points must be recalculated without +/- for the term needed prior to being reported to LOSFA. This is done using the unofficial transcript in Gibson for the term requested.
A, A-: 4 quality points
B+, B, B-: 3 quality points
C+, C, C-: 2 quality points
D+, D, D-: 1 quality point
F: 0 quality points
Collect biographical data. Collect biographical data about requested student from SPAIDEN.
Enter data on the LOSFA website. www.osfa.la.gov/AwardSystem
LOSFA access is provided by the TU TOPS representative, currently Roland Keller, Jr.
Semesterly
The end of term report is submitted by Stephanie Davis.
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