A study was conducted to assess the purpose, design, and impact of three specific governmental policy initiatives, instituted between 1981 and 1984, upon the role and function of the 15 community colleges in British Columbia. The three policies included the introduction of a provincial model for long-range planning, the establishment of a formula for funding college budgets, and the revision of the policies regarding eligibility for appointment to college boards. Each policy was examined to determine its rationale and the extent to which it attained its purposes. A further dimension of the study was to document those unanticipated effects which the policies brought to the operation of the institutions. The primary sources for determining the official intent of the policies were government reports and releases and the official record of the debate in the legislature. Interviews were conducted with chief executive officers, board members, middle management personnel, faculty members, and government officials to determine the perceived and measurable effects of the policies. Study findings included the following: (1) official rationales for policy initiatives were obtainable, and the undocumented reasons were equally accessible; (2) the implementation of the policies produced the initial impact which was intended, though the long-term impact was clearly tempered by practical realities, unanticipated obstacles, and interventions of higher priority; and (3) the overriding theme which entered either explicitly or implicitly into every discussion about government policy was that control over program development and upon overall cost of the college system was gradually becoming more firmly centered within the Ministry of Education. (EJV)