The paper compares and contrasts higher education funding sources and systems in the U.S. and the UK. The issues raised in the paper pertain to the major challenge of academia: finding financial support in times of limited resources and enhanced competition. The issues discussed throughout the paper are: funding and quality assessment of universities; funding and equity of access to post-secondary education; marketization and privatization of universities; funding, autonomy and accountability of higher education institutions. (Contains 5 tables, 9 charts and 7 footnotes.)