The policy implications of the State Level Information Base (SLIB) project of the National Center for Higher Education Management was examined by the Council of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities. The original purpose of the SLIB project was to develop a comprehensive and coordinated set of data elements that could serve each state's higher education agency in its planning activities. The Kentucky project was designed to determine the relevance of the externally developed data system for independent colleges and to develop procedures for including the independent sector in any planning activities that would take place in the states as their higher education agencies implemented SLIB. Two other components were: a national panel of experts who could provide a wide perspective and represent concerns beyond Kentucky; and a state task force which would ultimately provide the institutional planning data to the state agency. The final product of the SLIB project has not been a set of data elements that states could adopt but rather a framework for statewide planning. It was concluded that independent colleges and universities, through their state associations, must develop data analysis and planning capacity that is free-standing from governmental agencie. The state associations' proposed brokerage function is described in appended material. Recommendations are made concerning the role of independent institutions in statewide planning, provisions for policy review of data requests, the coordination of governmental data requests and specifications of the list and form of data elements. (SW)