Reply #8: It's worth noting that this is happening at your local state U, too,

[smoogatz]

as many states continue to de-fund higher education. Here in Wisconsin, thanks to our wingnut state legislature, only 20% of UW-Madison's budget is paid for by state taxes, down from 29% ten years ago.

http://www.staterelations.wisc.edu/faq.html

The situation has gotten so bad (and relations between the UW system and the state Assembly have gotten so hostile) that UW-Madison has floated a proposal to withdraw from the state-funded university system and go it alone as a private, self-regulating school. In other, wingnuttier states, the state's share of public U budgets is even lower—in the 15% range. Obviously, universities have to look somewhere for money; corporations aren't the best solution, but given the hostility of many state governments toward funding higher education, corporate money and, ultimately, privatization may be the only solution. It's what we get when we vote again and again for lower state taxes.