In determining whether colleges or universities should operate their own food services or bookstores or lease them to contract operators, school business officers should consider a number of factors. These include whether sales volume is sufficiently large to cover direct operating costs and overhead; inventory investment; appearance, service, and business volume; burden on accounting department of orders, credits, and payments; the ability to use or install proper retail accounting methods; and the institutional attention and priority given to the operation of these auxiliary services. While self-operation provides opportunities for overall direction and shifts in emphasis, to earn substantial returns, to finance additional facilities, and to demonstrate management ability, such operations must be sufficiently large and have sufficient business expertise to take advantage of these opportunities. Contractors, on the other hand, provide the school business officer with: (1) professional management; (2) a predictable return; (3) freedom from day-to-day problems and pitfalls; (4) cash flow rather than inventory investment; and (5) escape from accounting, personnel, and management burdens. In addition, contractors enjoy certain advantages over self-operators, including the ability to take advantage of quantity buying; to take risks on impulse merchandise; to take advantage of new trends in merchandising and adminstration; and freedom from public sector personnel policies governing terminations, wages, and holidays. (AYC)