This study examines the strategies that Russian private colleges and universities use to navigate the legal and normative pressures of the state in the free market of educational services. The tension between state control and free enterprise is analyzed through the prism of legitimacy as it is produced and maintained by the system of quality assurance. Following the crisis in higher education and society at large in the early 1990s, the system of quality assurance emerged in response to the calls for regulation and accountability of higher education institutions. Today it is a complex array of state laws, policies, and control mechanisms directed at both the public and private sectors of education. This study poses the central question: What are the strategies, approaches, and mechanisms that private colleges, universities, and institutes in Russia utilize to maintain their legitimacy with state actors? It is based on a larger qualitative research project that draws on the analysis of institutional documents and interviews with thirty-seven administrators and faculty at Russian private higher education institutions. The article begins with a brief overview of the quality assurance system as the context of the study. It then outlines the research design and examines the findings with emphasis on strategies for acquiring legitimacy. The article concludes with a discussion of state-imposed legitimacy pressures and their implications for institutional quality and competitiveness in the market.