This report presents the results of a multi-state study of state governing structures for higher education, focusing on the complexity of general patterns of higher education governance. The study focused on higher education governance in seven states--California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas--and was based on a review of relevant documents and interviews with over 200 administrators, faculty, staff, and policymakers. The report presents a conceptual framework that suggests that statewide governance of higher education is best understood as the result of interaction between a policy environment shaped by government strategies to achieve balance among academic and market forces and a system design that determines provider responsibilities, capacities, and linkages to each other and to elected leaders. It stresses the need to align educational policy across the macro, system, and operational levels to meet impending challenges, along with the importance of public policy and policy leadership in achieving balance among institutional and market forces in the context of continuity and change. (Contains 23 references.) (MDM)