A nationwide research project analyzed the impact of that shift in national policy as it affected Title I part A of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and what was implemented under it. Data were gathered about the nature of HEA, Title I, 1965, and its 1976 Amendments related to the continuing education programs funded and operational in sixty public institutions of higher education (from the perspective of the major administrators). Data analysis resulted in eight major findings: (1) the shift was not a substantive shift in legislation; (2) the shift clarified the definition of "community,; (3) two differentiated kinds of impact were identified: anticipatory and subsequential; (4) anticipatory impact occurred in larger, older, land-grant public institutions of higher education; (5) subsequential impact occurred in smaller, younger, non-land-grant institutions; (6) administrators at institutions in which anticipatory impact occurred saw themselves as proactive and were more involved in dealing with policy at all levels; (7) administrators at institutions in which subsequential impact occurred saw themselves as reactive and were less extensively involved with policy; and (8) administrators relied heavily on professional experience regarding policy. Sixteen implications for theory and practice and five for further research were derived. (YLB)