BATON ROUGE - Though he called it bad policy, Gov. John Bel Edwards has upheld the front-loaded approach to TOPS in the new budget.

College students on TOPS will receive full tuition funding for the fall semester and 42 percent financing for the spring.

As the financial year began Friday, the Democratic governor signed the budget bill passed by lawmakers in the special session that ended last week, to spend the $263 million raised through various tax changes.

Edwards didn't use his line-item veto on the TOPS language, saying he worried a veto would cause litigation.

House GOP leaders pushed for the front-loading of TOPS, saying they were hopeful Louisiana could bring in more money than estimated from tax bills. If not, they said a cut delay would give students time to prepare.