Primary tasks of this project were to locate, analyze, and synthesize (1) the available evidence for allegations that students receiving Federal aid for postsecondary education were being subjected to institutional malpractice and (2) the various suggestions and recommendations for protecting students from such claimed abuse. Improvement strategies were grouped under two major headings: (1) The regulatory approach, in which attempts could be made to better prevent or control abusive types of conditions, policies, and practices, resulted in regulatory and accreditation user guides. (2) The non-regulatory approach, in which improvements could be made in the education of student consumers themselves, to identify, avoid, or deal properly with institutional abuses, resulted in the student's consumer guide. Information collection and analysis instruments and procedures were developed, pilot tested, and field tested. Major products of the project (the information collection, analysis, and use mechanism guides for its use by accreditation and regulatory agencies, and the student's consumer guide) represent preliminary, partially-validated strategies. These strategies can contribute to meeting several immediate needs of institutional self-study, setting minimum eligibility standards, an "early warning" system, and the basis of a formal communication network in the tripartite eligibility system. (The report contains a literature review and summary, method description, data analysis and field testing results, discussion, conclusions, and recommendations. Appendixes include the instruments, data, list of participating institutions, and other related material.) (TA)