This chapter examines the way financial resources are mobilised for higher education systems, focusing on two basic questions all systems must answer: what level of financial resources should be raised for higher education and where will these resources come from? This chapter notes the increasing costs of higher education that necessitate rising levels of resource mobilisation, outlines constraints that shape resource mobilisation, and offers examples of the different choices governments have taken about “what level of resources to mobilise, and where from.” In higher education systems where household resources are mobilised, decisions must be taken about who will pay, how much they should pay and how households should be assisted in meeting study costs. The question of financial aid to students is taken up in Chapter 3, while the processes by which public revenues are allocated to higher education institutions are taken up in Chapter 4.