What happens to the TOPS funding should a student not complete a semester?

Under TOPS, students must meet minimum grade-point average and credit hour requirements. 

“The award is cancelled when students fail to maintain full-time and continuous enrollment and earn the required 24 hours of credit per academic year, or earn the required minimum GPA,” reads the Louisiana Board of Regents’ latest TOPS report, released last December.

“Awards are initially suspended for GPA and can be permanently canceled only after 2 years have passed and the student has not attained the required GPA.”

The total number of TOPS awards, along with the number of them canceled because of failure to meet credit hour, GPA and continuous enrollment requirements, in recent years, as listed in the report:

2011-2012 — 15,147; 2,907, 650, 686.

2012-2013 — 15,851; 3,307, 843, 89.

2013-2014 — 16,467; 3,437, 338, 49.

2014-2015 — 16,723; 2,954, 17, 19.

2015-2016 — 17,294; 2,096, none listed, 11.

Students aren’t required to repay the money they receive from TOPS.

 

For more info: www.regents.la.gov; www.osfa.la.gov.

 

Most area post offices have money orders         

The USPS website says that international money orders are available at every location. Yet not one post office in Lake Charles, Sulphur or Westlake carries them.

Why is that, and where in Southwest Louisiana can you buy an international money order?

U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Twana Barber said she verified that the post offices in Sulphur and Westlake have international money orders.

“The Lake Charles Post Office was out of stock but should have them available soon,” Barber wrote in an email.

“Also, the Moss Bluff Post Office located at 172 E. Telephone Road, Lake Charles, LA 70611-5314, should have international money orders readily available for purchase.”

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For more info: www.usps.com.

 

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.