The average private, independent college or university is often under-served in the purchasing marketplace because its total consumption of supplies, equipment and services, as a single institution, is not sufficiently large to result in consistently competitive pricing. By combining a single institution’s purchase volume with hundreds of similar institutions throughout the country, the created market strength of private colleges enables competitive leverage rivaled only by the largest of corporations. The Coalition for College Cost Savings (The Coalition) is a comprehensive and collaborative purchasing organization focused exclusively on independent, private higher education. The Coalition’s goals are to leverage the collective buying power of private colleges to reduce operating costs, improve the efficiency of internal procedures and ultimately lower the cost of delivering education. From the earliest conceptual discussions of its structure in 2004, The Coalition has grown to 35 member organizations in 33 states that collectively serve over 900 private colleges and over 3 million students across the United States. The Coalition's membership is comprised of Higher Education Member Organizations and each members' President serves on the Board of Directors. The mission of The Coalition is to support Higher Education Member Organizations by creating collaborative opportunities to transform processes, reduce cost, and increase efficiencies for their member colleges and universities.