The Claremont Colleges started the first US cluster experiment in 1925. Through the cluster concept, the personal values of the small college have been preserved while it secured facilities of the university. What is not known is whether educational resources have been enriched at a faster rate than the rise in unit cost. The purpose of this study was to examine the assumption that certain offices or services operate more economically on a central basis in cluster colleges than the same offices or functions in individual non-cooperating colleges. Eighteen individual colleges were selected for comparison with 4 of the 5 Claremont Colleges on enrollment, annual expenditures, academic reputation, selectivity, faculty compensation level, assets, endowment, tuition, sex, and curricular emphasis. Findings reveal that in some areas --library, business office, and health services --there are advantages such as cost benefits and increased resources in a central operation. These profits are gained because the individual small colleges have the size advantage of the group which permits unit costs to decrease at lower enrollment levels. Individual independent colleges, large or small, receive only what they can individually support. For the other areas studied, sufficient data were not available to determine any advantage to cluster or non-cluster colleges. (WM)