The LA GATOR letter a lot of New Orleans families got this summer didn't say yes or no. It said waitlist. That's the honest result of a program that is open to nearly everyone on paper and funded for a fraction of them in practice. Here is what the waitlist means, how it moves, and four things to do while you're on it.
How the list came to be
For 2026-27, 17,848 students applied statewide and 16,993 were found eligible. The Legislature's budget, passed on June 1, kept the program at about $43.5 million, the same as the first year, and did not fund the expansion that program supporters had asked for. That money covers the students already in the program plus the top priority groups: students with a disability under IDEA and students from households at or below 250% of the federal poverty level, then siblings of participants. Everyone else was placed on a waitlist in application order.
In greater New Orleans, where private school enrollment is among the highest in the country, that means a lot of families in the fourth group. The list moves when a funded student leaves the program, when the state's cost estimates come in under budget, or if the Legislature adds money. None of those is predictable. Treat the waitlist as a maybe, not a plan.
1. Apply for an STO scholarship now, if your income qualifies
Louisiana's older program, the Tuition Donation Credit, is separate from LA GATOR and has its own money. Four school tuition organizations award scholarships to students from households at or below 250% of poverty who were in public school, are entering kindergarten, or already held a state scholarship: ACE Scholarships, Arete Scholars, Aspiring Scholars and Son of a Saint, which is based in New Orleans. The award can't exceed the school's tuition and fees and is capped at a share of the state per-pupil amount, but it is real money that doesn't depend on the LA GATOR appropriation.
The STO has to be used at a participating school. In our directory, well over half of the approved schools in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany were on the 2024-25 participating list; each school's page shows whether it was. If LA GATOR comes through later, the two stack under Act 403: the account pays first, the STO award covers what's left.
2. Ask the school for aid on the assumption that LA GATOR doesn't come
New Orleans schools, especially the archdiocesan high schools and the larger independents, run their own need-based aid, and the Archdiocese of New Orleans has a tuition assistance fund on top of that. Both are awarded in the spring for the following year. Apply as if the account won't arrive. If it does, the school adjusts. Families who skip the aid application because they expect LA GATOR to cover it often end up with neither.
3. Check whether you're in the wrong priority group
The two facts that move a student up the list are an IDEA disability and household income at or below 250% of poverty, about $80,375 for a family of four. Families near that line sometimes don't realize they qualify, and families whose child has an IEP from a public school sometimes don't realize that the IEP is the documentation. If either applies, make sure it was captured in your application. It changes both your priority and your amount: $7,626 instead of $5,243, or up to $15,253 for an IDEA student.
4. Enroll anyway, with a clear bill
Most waitlisted families enroll their child regardless. The useful move is to get the school to write down the full year's cost, the aid it has awarded, and what changes if LA GATOR pays. Ask whether tuition is billed monthly or by semester, and whether the school will re-bill through Odyssey mid-year if the award arrives. Some schools will; some won't take a mid-year LA GATOR enrollment at all.
If the award arrives mid-year
When a waitlisted student is funded after the school year has started, Odyssey pro-rates the remaining quarterly deposits rather than paying the full annual amount. A student funded in November, for example, would see three deposits instead of four. The school bills the account from that point forward; it can't go back and recover tuition you already paid for the first quarter from the account. That is another reason to get the school's billing policy in writing before the year begins, and to ask whether a mid-year LA GATOR start changes any aid the school awarded you in the spring.
What to watch next spring
The 2027-28 window will open in the spring, likely in March again. A waitlisted student who reapplies keeps the same priority rules, so the only way to move up is a change in circumstances, a sibling entering the program, or more money from the Legislature. The 2027 session will be the one to watch; the Senate president asked for test results from the first cohort before expanding, and those results will exist by then.
If you'd like help putting the pieces together for your child, start with the funding check or read how the account works on the LA GATOR page.
Sources
- Pelican Institute: 17,000 Students, One Clear Message: Fully Fund LA GATOR
- WBRZ: Legislative session ends as Louisiana's $47B budget passes (June 1, 2026)
- LDOE: LA GATOR application window for 2026-2027 opens March 1
- LDOE: LA GATOR Scholarship Program
- Odyssey: Stacking LA GATOR and the Tuition Donation Tax Credit (TDC) Program
- LDOE: Tuition Donation Credit Program
- Son of a Saint: Louisiana STO scholarships
- LDOE: TDC Program 2024-2025 Participating Nonpublic Schools