The higher education system in India in the last 70 years witnessed an impressive growth as the number of universities increased from 20 to 341 and the enrolment has increased from 0.2 million to 43.3 million between 1947 and 2021–22. This growth is not commensurate with government investment for the sector, although investment in higher education in India is economically efficient. The recent trends in the higher education financing policy are characterised by exclusivity over universality with favourable investment towards institutes of eminence vis-à-vis general government run colleges and universities; privatisation of universities, growth of disciplines like science and technical education; introduction of self-financing courses; escalating course fees; revitalisation of student loans programmes and shrinking scholarship programmes. These policy changes show a disproportionate impact on the students from socio-economically backward communities who are largely dependent on the public provisioning of higher education services. Thus, with the expansion of the system while there was a transformation from elite to mass education, for the last few years a reverse trend is observed. This chapter captures the changing pattern in higher education financing over the years and argues for a coherent higher education policy with transformative and equitable public spending.