After a brief mention of the financial uncertainty of colleges and universities in the 1970's and some speculation on hopeful trends in higher education, this document discusses some federal activities in higher education that are often overlooked. One such federal program is I-E-L (Federal Coordinator for Industry-Education-Labor) that brings together leadership, information, and ideas from the worlds of business, training, and work. Another federal program is HEGIS (The Higher Education General Information Survey), which is a comprehensive survey of statistics of institutions of higher learning. The document also gives some suggestions for the fiscal and philosophical survival of colleges and universities. Those suggestions are: (1) fiscal responsibility; (2) more attention to students' rights; (3) more consumer orientation; (4) more career education orientation; (5) retention of a strong humanities program; and (6) teaching communications skills necessary for success in the work world. Some things colleges and universities might do are to: (1) review the efficiency of their operation; (2) expand course offerings to adult students; and (3) eliminate the dichotomy between so-called academic learning and vocational education. (Author/KE)