Information is presented from a study by the Council of New Jersey State College Locals to get facts on budgets, enrollments, New Jersey, the nation, and trends over the last decade in order to help the citizens of New Jersey determine what policies will best meet their needs in the 1990s. In June of 1987, the Chancellor submitted a Five-Year Agenda to the Board of Higher Education. Designed as a comprehensive planning document for higher education, its goals include better access, increased minority participation, ensured college affordability, improved physical facilities, funding levels consistent with excellence, and increased autonomy. However, it ignores the increases in the college-age population expected after 1995 and the effects of the very significant projected increase in the over-35 population which is already underway. It accepts declining enrollment as inevitable despite a stated commitment to access and equity. Study results indicate the following: a striking feature of New Jersey higher education is low enrollments; demographic trends are no worse in New Jersey than in states that have experienced enrollment increases instead of decreases; the enrollment decline is driven as much or more by policy decisions and unstated goals as by demographic trends; and the central concern of higher education policy in New Jersey should shift from management of decline to building a bridge to the future since the college-age population will begin to increase in 5 or 6 years. (SM)