This paper examines the use of student portfolios for assessment at the college level. Portfolios, which have recently been used extensively on the elementary and middle school levels, are collections of artifacts gathered to represent a student's work. After describing current dissatisfactions with the dominant standardized testing student assessment format, the paper discusses precursors to portfolios in earlier educational practice which often involved student demonstration of achievement through public actions or actual products. The next section describes the ways in which portfolio efforts should advance student skills in work planning, task prioritizing, and logical thought as well as having an overall student enabling quality. A section on types of portfolios describes the portfolio as a "purposeful" collection of student work organized in one of three common formats, the "best work" portfolio, the developmental portfolio, and the lab or workshop model. A following section lists reasons why teachers are enthusiastic about portfolios. A section on selecting portfolio content offers 13 abstract guidelines and concepts to assist artifact selection and 15 concrete guidelines. A section on judging portfolios offers suggestions and cautions. A discussion of the place of portfolios at the college level explores challenges to their introduction and suggests seven standards for evaluation: introduction, positive appearance, organization, mediation, significant meanings, position papers, and originality. Contains 23 references. (JB)