Management strategies that would be useful to college trustees and administrators in the actual situation of institutional merging or closing are discussed, and ways to assess the costs and benefits of taking on a new corporate identity or dissolving an old one are suggested. Trustee responsibilities and the following three typical financial problems are considered: short-term debt, inflated income estimates, and the problem of critical mass. After outlining the options available for corporate change, a general model for evaluating the options that an individual institution finds available to it is presented. Attention is directed to the viability of a merger, preparing for negotiations, and the financial basis for an acquisition merger. Bankruptcy as an instrument for reorganization, and specifically the Bankruptcy Reform Act of l978 provisions, are addressed. The responsibility of the board of trustees in dissolution of the college corporation and some of the procedures that college counsel should research before a resolution for dissolution is adopted are outlined. Other areas of concern include: timing of the announcement to close; charter and legal obligations; making the announcement; academic concerns such as completion of graduation requirements; the library collections; and the alumni association. The following administrative and policy decisions are addressed: severance pay, unemployment insurance, out-placement of staff, the status of pension funds for those who retire, student records, and documents needed by students receiving financial aid. Appended materials include regulations of the states regarding the disposition of student records of private colleges and universities and state regulations regarding the dissolution of nonprofit colleges and universities. (SW)