Privatization is a spectrum along which public institutions operate. As the share of public investment in their operations declines, institutions are increasingly required to function in the competitive marketplace and so become increasingly privatized. In this article, former University of Wisconsin System President Katharine C. Lyall and colleague Kathleen Sell, former chief budget officer, report on the decrease in state support of higher education institutions in the United States. They decribe how budget decisions over the last decade have resulted in states losing their traditional stake in public higher education--a development that could have profound consequences for the nation. They provide evidence for the increasing privatization of public colleges and universities. They also attempt to answer three questions concerning privatization of public higher education: (1) Why is it happening? (2) Are the drivers of this change cyclical or long term? (3) What consequences it might have? and (4) What, if anything, can the society do about it? (Contains 1 chart and 22 resources.)