An analysis is presented of the organization and administration of public and private two-year colleges in the United States. Section I highlights the changes that took place within community colleges in the 1970's in budgeting, the expansion of collective bargaining, and the pressure to provide increased opportunities to minority students. Section II discusses structural models and organizational patterns of two-year colleges, focusing on two extremes: the bureaucratic model, which predominated for the first 50 years of community college development, and the participative model, which emphasizes lateral and oblique communication systems and faculty, student, and staff involvement in decision making. Section III provides a comparative analysis of organizational structures of two-year colleges in terms of administration, business functions, instruction, student services, and the executive function. This section examines the mode of organization and provides examples of: (1) public community colleges in single and multi-unit independent districts; (2) state university systems and branch campuses; (3) state boards for community colleges and state two-year college systems; (4) technical institutes and technical colleges; (5) colleges characterized by innovative patterns of organization, such as non-campus and cluster colleges; and (6) private colleges, including independent and church-related institutions. (HB)