A study of the relationship between the operating costs of statewide boards for higher education and the administrative costs of institutions of higher education in 50 states is described. The analysis focuses on 61 statewide boards for higher education and 1,472 public institutions. The research design involves controlling for such variables as amount of state money allocated for board operation, type of board, age of board, and load adjusted support level appropriation and tuition revenues per full-time equivalent student. The statistical techniques are designed to isolate those variables that may affect the proportion of total educational expenditures devoted to administration. Preliminary analysis reveals that the percent of state appropriations for higher education for central operations appears to be in line with the type of board, and governing boards generally receive a greater percent of state appropriation than do coordinating boards. Preliminary data on 14 states seem to indicate that those states that do better in funding higher education have relatively better funded boards. Descriptive information is included on the following: findings from the literature, statewide higher education boards of the 50 states, public policy terms, and data sources and research techniques. (SW)