Do state regulatory type agencies for higher education, either consolidated governing boards or coordinating boards, have measurable effects on institutional effectiveness or efficiency? To answer this question three types of information were examined: (1) opinions of the president or delegate representative; (2) data on actual costs that are a result of the institutions' membership in a coordinating or governing systems; and (3) the situation in large-scale systems as compared with a parallel study of business organization of multicompanies. It was found that the trend toward the establishment of coordinating boards or commissions of higher education appears to be halted, at least temporarily. At the same time, the 1202 Commissions have expanded the state definitions of postsecondary education and emphasized statewide planning for higher education. All these conflicting trends indicate clearly the need to develop well understood assignments of levels of decisionmaking and distribution of authority to the institutions and to each of the centralized regulatory agencies. In addition, institutions need to determine the essential local functions that are basic and needed at each institution. (Author/KE)