This report is presented on the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) for disadvantaged students in the independent colleges and universities of New York State in compliance with state law instructing the New York Commissioner of Education to prepare an annual report on the activities of the institutions which received state funds. Highlights include the following: in 1987-88, New York State appropriated $18,871,000 to serve disadvantaged students in HEOP in 80 programs; total expenditures for the program from a combination of state, institutional, federal, and other sources totalled $96,738,400, an increase of $10.5 million compared to 1986-87; during 1987-88, a total of 7,853 HEOP students were enrolled full-time or part-time including 6,097 students in four-year colleges, 604 in two-year colleges, and 1,152 in correctional facility programs; of the 7,853 enrolles, 2,530 were freshmen; HEOP continued to serve large numbers of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education (45% were black and 26.7% were Spanish-surnamed); the fastest growing population group continues to be students of Asian descent now at 7.8%, the completion rate for remedial/developmental courses decreased 9.3% from 1986-87, averaging 81.3% overall; the average number of tutoring hours per student increased from 57.1% to 64.0%; and the average expense budget for an HEOP student at a four-year college increased $983. (SM)