This essay reviews the current status of private independent junior colleges in the United States. Several studies and innovative programs are cited. Because private junior colleges face shrinking enrollments and diminished funding for instruction, services, and activities, they must now stress cost-effectiveness and practical financial management if they are to remain vigorous. They must limit their hiring of new faculty and reduce the number of courses, small classes, and administrators. However, they will continue to be an integral and significant part of the two-year college movement if they are committed to the movement as a field in which their future lies and if they are committed to institutional purposes which go beyond competition with public two-year colleges. Also, they must: (1) focus attention on their educational program and their services to society, (2) focus on well-rounded continuing development programs, (3) emphasize both short-term and long-term goals, (4) enlist trustees and other volunteers who believe in, work for, and give adequate support to their programs, (5) use educational objectives relevant to these times, (6) institute effective student recruitment programs, (7) work for favorable state and federal tax laws, and (8) evaluate their institutional effectiveness on a regular basis. (DC)