Lawmaker Scales Back Tuition-Cut Proposal

A North Carolina lawmaker is scaling back his proposal to slash tuition at five public universities. The idea received strong critical backlash.

Sen. Tom Apodaca is walking back his proposal to cut tuition to $500 a semester at the universities, which serve mostly black, American Indian and low-income students.

The Republican from Hendersonville says his idea was met with mistrust and skepticism so fierce that he was called a racist.

He now says he'll drop the three historically black colleges, including Winston-Salem State University, from the bill. UNC Pembroke and Western Carolina would remain in the tuition-reduction proposal.

The move came after North Carolina's NAACP called the proposed tuition cut a backdoor attempt to drive the historically black schools into bankruptcy.

And opponents said they didn't trust assurances from the Republican-controlled legislature that it would make up for the lost funding with up to $70 million a year.