The direction of federal and state policy toward independent higher education is summarized with particular focus upon the last two decades leading up to present data collection efforts by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and state governments. After a review of the usefulness of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) to independent institutions and the NCES plans for future data collection, the lack of responsiveness to the needs of the independent sector at both the federal and state levels and the consequent need for a national association, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and the formation of a State-National Information Network for Independent Higher Education are described. The rest of the paper describes the objectives of this Network and the need for specific data collection to service the public policy concerns of the independent sector. The concluding section discusses the implications for institutional research in the independent sector. (Author/JMD)