The main goal of this paper is to compare nowadays higher education institutions funding attitudes within EU countries. The recent economic downturn has furthermore contributed to the decision in many European countries to decrease the levels of investment into higher education. Across Europe continues strong HEI’s dependence on public funding but an increasing number of EU countries introduced different types of fees to be paid by tertiary education students. Targeted financial support to particular students mitigated the effects of study fees. Grants and loans for students at tertiary level are a major strand of public expenditure. For future sustainability funding sources have been diversified, containing a mixture of public and private funding sources.