Cost sharing program as a source of financing higher education was introducedrnto Ethiopia in 2003/04. It was aimed at improving access, quality and efficiencyrnof teaching learning process in the country. Hence, all students who joinrninstitutions of higher learning were obliged to cover full costs related with'rnbo'arding and lodging and a minimum of 15 percent of tuition related costs.rnThe purpose of this study was, therefore, to identify the major implementationrnproblems of cost sharing program in universities in â€¢SNNPR. The universitiesrnincluded in this study were Hawassa University, Arbaminch University, and DillarnUniversity. In this study descriptive survey method was employed to conduct thernstudy. Thus, 392 students and 34 administrators were selected by usingrnstratified sampling and availability sampling techniques respectively. Therninstruments used in this study to gather data were research questionnaire andrninterview. Questionnaires were distributed to 392 students and 34rnadministrators while interview was conducted with 3 reform officers and 8 actingrnloan officers. The data collected was analyzed using statistical tools such asrnpercentage, mean and t-tes t.rnThe findings of the study revealed that the majority of students agreed on thernneed to share educational costs and were convinced that those who benefitedrnfrom education should share educational costs. The study also revealed that thernmechanisms applied in higher education cost sharing program were appropriate.rnThe findings further revealed that students and administrators reaction towardsrnthe management of cost sharing scheme was negative. Another finding of thisrnstudy showed that the introduction of cost sharing did not bring required changesrnin the teaching learning process and students' services. Finally, lack ofrnawareness of students, low participation of students and stakeholders in therndesigning and implementation of the scheme, shortage of finance and manpowerrnto run the system, lack of coordination and inexistence of responsible body tornmanage the scheme were identified as the major problems the s chemernimplementation process encountered.rnIn light of these findings, the following recommendations were forwarded:rnorganizing orientation programs to the university community so that it helps torncreate awareness about the scheme objectives and benefits, strengthening thernlink between universities and enterprises to generate additional income,rnassigning an independent body to follow and manage the scheme in thernuniversities, and involving student representatives and stakeholders in thernimplementation process of the scheme .