The proposed budget for higher education released this week by the state House would end state financing for a project run by N.C. Central University that is currently under investigation by state auditors.

About $527,000 for the Historically Minority Colleges and Universities Consortium, administered by NCCU, would be shifted to a dropout prevention initiative within the state's Department of Public Instruction.

That shift would remove all state funding for the NCCU project, which is the subject of a current state audit after officials on the NCCU campus found evidence that a former employee may have embezzled funds from it.

The program also receives state and federal funds. An NCCU official said Thursday the loss of state funding wouldn't necessarily be the program's death knell because it does receive other funding as well.