Between 1983 and 1986, colleges and universities issued about $20 billion of debt for facilities and student financing, and it is predicted that billions of dollars of new debt will be needed for building renovation. Debt capacity, management, and accounting are now major issues, and the purpose of this book is to provide a handy reference manual for treasury and controllership personnel. Information includes a history of college debt; the need for new debt; common concerns with debt (funded depreciation and debt capacity); choosing a source of funds (debt policy, controlling the financing process, and blended pool of funds); credit support; the effect of the Tax Reform Act; accounting issues over the life cycle of debt; and federal recovery. Ten appendices offer the following examples of debt accounting (bank financing and tax-exempt financing); questions and interpretations regarding debt accounting; an annotated subject bibliography; criteria by various credit rating agencies; hospital and university credit ratings; features of tax-exempt financing alternatives; significant features of the Tax Reform Act of 1986; and three examples (choosing a source of funds, capitalization of interest, and gain on "low to high" refunding). Tables are included. (SM)