James Francis Burke received significant funding from the RNC to support the American Republican College League's founding and to maintain the organization's early offices in New York City and Chicago.

[6] The relative dominance of the Democratic Party through the 1930s through the 1960s coincided with a precipitous drop in the membership and effectiveness of the College Republicans.

As the college organizer supporting Louie Nunn's campaign for Governor of Kentucky, Blackwell organized approximately 5,000 college student volunteers who dropped 93,000 pieces of literature, posted 20,000 flyers, mailed 15,000 hand-addressed and signed postcards to friends of known student supporters of Nunn, and processed over 8,000 absentee ballots.

He challenged the front-runner's delegates, throwing the national convention into disarray, after which both he and his opponent, Robert Edgeworth, claimed victory.

The dispute was resolved when Rove was selected through the direct order of the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who at the time was George H W Bush.

This success led to $290,000 in financial assistance from the RNC, mainly to implement Jack Abramoff's field representative program.

[6] Prompted by the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the CRNC officially left the control of the RNC by reconstituting as a 527 group, allowing it to operate independently and raise unlimited amount of money for issue-advocacy work.

[10] The relationship became an issue during the 2005 election for National Chairman, which was won by former CRNC Treasurer, Paul Gourley, whose signature was on the questionable fundraising letters.

"[17] She was suspended for the incident, and later fired by the CRNC for later creating a Facebook group in which she promised to make out with individuals who signed up volunteers for get out the vote efforts.

[20] According to a letter published by the National Review, Thornton used his powers as chairman to interpret CRNC bylaws in an unprecedented fashion in order to help elect Britt.

[26] There are 7 verifiably non-defunct College Republican State federations still chartered with the CRNC, including Oregon,[27] New Hampshire,[28] Vermont,[29] Kansas,[30] Minnesota,[31] and Maine.

State federations are responsible for organizing and assisting local chapters with securing proper credentials, recruitment efforts, and campus voter canvasses.

[25] Like the state federations and national committee, the campus chapters are affiliated with their local Republican Party, but are not official arms of that organization.

[25] The chapter chairperson and leadership team are responsible for maintaining the campus club's credentials and constitution, and representing the College Republicans when dealing with university administration, other student groups, and in the surrounding community.

[6] The CRNC often sends paid field representatives to individual campuses to assist in organizing the election efforts.

Generally the hired field representative or chapter chair begins the school year with membership tables on campus for recruitment.

Members use door-to-door canvassing and word of mouth to identify and register as many Republican voters among the student body as possible.

Chapters occasionally run student mock elections and other special events as a means to gain positive earned media attention for a candidate.