Increased competition among universities and trends toward privatization are threatening the public mission of state universities and colleges, according to a report by Futures Project scheduled for release today. The new report identifies four areas of weakness in public higher education: rising costs and unaffordable tuition, limited need-based financial aid, the lack of a sufficient way to measure success, and an increase in the proportion of research funds coming from corporate rather than government sources. The changes mean that universities are competing for two types of students: those who will increase an institution\'s ranking in U.S. News & World Report and those who can pay the full cost of their education.