As public funds decline and the political climate changes, accountability and quality assurance are important issues for U.S. colleges and universities, and institutional leaders are concerned about a shift away from the established institution-centered structures, toward government-mandated, standards-driven systems. This paper explores the "architecture" of accountability in U.S. higher education; it defines issues affecting quality assurance; and, finally, it proposes a coordinated system of quality assurance that rests on the assumption that the various parties involved have different needs, resources, and motivations. The paper begins by setting ground rules and discussing global social and economic trends; it notes design problems in the current accountability system; and identifies public policy problems, such as diploma mills, the lack of standards for distance education programs, student loan defaults, fraud in Title IV programs, and rising tuition costs. The second part of the report proposes the solution to these problems: a "coordinated" system of quality assurance that rests on three strategies: (1) direct regulation, (2) incentive systems, and (3) information-driven markets. It describes the roles in such a system of the federal government, the states, institutional accreditors and governing boards, disciplinary and professional organizations, third-party information providers, and the market. (CH)