Responses of colleges and universities to declining revenues and enrollments were investigated, based on a 1983 survey of 334 four-year institutions. Scalogram analysis was employed to determine whether there was a hierarchy of institutional responses to enrollment/revenue decline and whether declining and nondeclining institutions can be differentiated on the basis of their actions. Also considered was whether there were natural groupings of institutional responses to declining enrollments and revenues. The degree of association between cutback actions and the pattern of association between different retrenchment activities were assessed using factor analysis. Correlation analysis was used to examine differences between respondents' perceptions of institutional environments, form and functioning, and outcomes in declining and nondeclining institutions. Finally, regression analysis considered the extent to which institutions engaged in across-the-board versus selective cuts as they experienced declining revenues, and the extent to which resources were reallocated among different areas of institutional operations. No implicit hierarchy of response that reflected the severity of decline was found. Additional findings are presented, along with study questionnaires. (SW)