美國高等教育系統常為他國所借鏡，其雖因自由市場經濟哲學立基而收費偏高，然其由聯邦政府、州政府、以至於地方及高等教育機構本身均提供相應的多元獎、補助辦法與管道，建立起「高學費、高補助」的高等教育學費體系，目標在於促進美國國民以可負擔的費用進入大學，並盡可能在負擔最小的情況完成學業。本研究針對美國高等教育體系進行脈絡瞭解、探究其高等教育學費財源結構，並進一步認識美國高等教育的學費政策及相應的助學配套措施等，以提供我國未來高等教育學費政策的參考。

The U.S. higher education system is based on free market philosophy and charges high tuition fee. However, in order to fulfill the promise for every citizen in the U.S. to access and to complete his / her study at higher education institution with affordable tuition fee, the federal government, state governments, higher education institutions, and others. All together form a collaborative relationship to provide multiple approaches to establish the U.S. college tuition policy system known with its feature as “high tuition, high financial assistances.” Therefore, this study aims to understand tuition policy and its structure of financial source at higher education level in the U.S. on the one hand. On the other hand, this study is to inquire the approaches of various financial aids for helping students to pay affordable tuition in the U.S. higher education. In the end of this study, it offers suggestions for making further considerations on college tuition policy and financial aids for students in Taiwan.