Developments in American higher education from 1905-1945 to increase efficiency and coordination are discussed. Data were collected on the costs of instruction, utilization of facilities, and the distribution of faculty time in order to find ways to reduce wastage and increase efficiency. A certain amount of this wastage resulted from competition between rival institutions within the state systems of higher education. Leaders in the federal and state governments supported data gathering activities of the efficiency experts. Developments toward centralization increased early in 1930 but subsided after 1945, during which a more voluntary approach to coordination prevailed. Taylor's approach to scientific management, which caught attention in the business world, was applied to education in the early 1900's. Many educators of this period were interested in making their work more scientific. The efforts of Elwood P. Cubberley, E. C. Elliott, Henry Suzzallo, E. B. Stevens, Samuel P. Capen, and others to make educational administration more efficient or scientific are documented. The move toward the more centralized coordination of higher education also contributed to the efficiency movement in higher education. The duplication of courses, facilities, and staff which led to the rivalries among schools, which in turn led state officials to form coordinating boards, could best be studied by using the cost accounting procedures of the efficiency experts. The role played by federal officials and the developments in some specific states are covered. (SW)