No school other than LSU is allowed to raise tuition without legislative approval. University of Louisiana system schools can raise fees by up to 10%(?) without legislative approval. That is a significant distinction since the TOPS program covers tuition and not fees. For a Louisiana student who has earned TOPS it means that it cost less for them to attend LSU than it does for them to attend UL.
As far as admission criteria. Even the Ivy League has reduced their criteria. It would be political suicide to raise the admission criteria in the current environment. Like it or not politics are important in public higher education and upping admission criteria based on test scores and grades at this point would be asking for a lot of trouble.