Increased demands to provide additional services coupled with shrinking state fiscal resources have left American institutions of public higher education to find creative ways to fulfill their roles. Institutions are looking for ways to become more efficient and cost-effective and are increasingly turning to inter-institutional collaboration as a way to do more with less. This study explores the perspective of managers and directors working at higher education institutions engaged in a long-term inter-institutional partnership on this model of educational collaboration. The qualitative research technique of a case study was used for this research. Interviews with managers and directors working in a research university-community college partnership in the Midwest and related institutional documents such as strategic plans and cost-share agreements were used for the study. Participants were managers responsible for operational units at the institution such as financial aid, facilities, admissions, advising, etc. Their responses were recorded and transcribed and subsequently themes were drawn from their responses and matched against a framework of success characteristics. The participants responses were analyzed and a discussion and implications for practice section were produced for each framework category.