Organizational attributes and responses of 56 small to medium-sized colleges that experienced enrollment decline over a 4-year period were investigated. Administrators and faculty members completed surveys that included items concerning institutional agreement on mission and responses to decline. Each college had experienced decline in full-time equivalent enrollments during 1979-1983. It was found that organizations that recovered from decline differed on some attributes from those that stabilized or continued to decline. Using changes of plus or minus 5% to categorize outcomes, 9 organizations were considered to recover, 26 were stabilizing, and 21 continued to decline. Strong agreement on mission was linked to recovery from decline. Seven of the nine recovering colleges expressed strong agreement on mission. The literature on research approaches to the study of decline is reviewed. The relationships between external and internal environmental characteristics, responses to decline, and actual outcomes are identified as research issues. (SW)