Both the EU2020 draft strategy and the Leuven/Louvain la Neuve Bologna Process Ministerial conference confirmed the public responsibility and the need for investment in the higher education(HE) sector as a solution to the economic crisis.Students,as main beneficiaries,should be active participants in the funding reform debates and to be aware to understand and input into different types of funding mechanisms,be it of public or private nature,so as to support the modernization agenda of higher education and to be involved in the search for institutional diversified funding.FiSt project aims at increasing the knowledge of the effects of financing systems in Europe over students and to work on the capacity building of the national unions of students with regard to their active involvement in higher education funding reforms.The Research Compendium(RC),the Financing Toolkit, the interactive wiki-style website,the European Training and Student Representatives’ Exchanges will aim at increasing the capacity of 11 million students represented by 45 ESU members in active participation for HE funding reform.Also,the peer-reviewed RC will provide a comparative map of the current 45 national funding systems in Europe,their typology and effect on institutional capacity to cater to socio-economical challenges and it will address policy makers, HE stakeholders and students alike.The results of the project will be also disseminated through the website and a Final conference,aimed at validating the projects results with the relevant stakeholders at the European level.The innovative elements are:1.the facilitation of the Student representative exchanges, with a job shadowing orientation, from 18 European countries, focused on gathering a first-hand experience on financing and student involvement in financing debates in Austria,Estonia and the United Kingdom and 2.the innovative RC overview of the European funding systems from the perspective of their effects on students.