During the last quarter of a century, public higher education institutions have found themselves buffeted by a perfect storm. This storm has led to discussions about the privatization of those institutions, which has implications for their ability to improve, or at least maintain, their quality and their accessibility to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Several factors led to privatization of public higher education. Following the Reagan revolution in the 1980s, which reduced the value of the state income tax deduction on federal income tax returns, taxpayers clamored for state income tax cuts. But since then, increased state-funding needs for Medicaid, elementary and secondary education, and the criminal justice system have put increasing pressure on state tax revenues. The consequence has been structural deficits in many state budgets. There simply have not been sufficient revenues available to generously fund public higher education--instead, there have been dramatic reductions in the share of state budgets devoted to higher education. In this article, the author describes the chain of events that transpired prior to the privatization of the US public higher education. (Contains 9 resources.)