The aim of this paper is to describe the difficulties of financing higher education, to investigate the extent to which negative aspects affect the financing of higher education, and to explain the connections in the forms of education in different countries. Education can be considered the main driver of world development. Looking at societies at the micro-level or the macro-level of individual countries. The socioeconomic status of the individual and his family plays one of the key roles in education. Although there are many socioeconomic factors, such as the level of cultural and social capital, that affect the lives of individuals in higher education, the main one can be considered funding. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the educational systems of higher education in the countries of the European Union. First of all, emphasis was placed on the Republic of Croatia, while the criteria for selecting other countries were the development and uniqueness of the higher education system. Through the comparison of countries, the differences between private and public financing of higher education and their advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. The pandemic of the COVID-19 virus, which already affected the entire world at the beginning of 2020, had a major impact on all social aspects. Consequently, the negative effects of the pandemic left consequences on and on the socioeconomic status of individuals who lost their jobs or had their wages drastically reduced. Looking at the aspects of financing higher education in such an environment is not an easy task, either for parents who finance their children's studies or for young people who are responsible for financing their own education. Through a detailed analysis of already existing, as well as newly obtained data, this paper provides a new picture of the higher education system. Accordingly, it contributes to the expansion of existing knowledge of the topic and opens up new opportunities for further research.