Variables that correlate highly with success in obtaining 1978 external funding for research among the 338 member institutions of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) were studied. It was found that AASCU institutions that have been successful in obtaining outside funds for research purposes do tend to place more emphasis, in both policy and resource allocation, on graduate teaching and internally and externally-funded research. Measures of size of faculty and student body, as well as doctoral work in several disciplines, were found to correlate significantly with grants at AASCU institutions. The best single predictor of success in 1978 was success four years earlier, with the existence of a grants administration office, dollar amount of grants four years earlier, and existence of an engineering doctorate also significantly contributing to predictability. It is concluded that AASCU institutions successful at obtaining externally-funded research money tended to have certain things in common: past success in obtaining grants; emphasis on graduate and particularly doctoral work; larger student bodies and faculties; and emphasis on research and publication for promotion and tenure purposes. (SW)