Rankings of higher education institutions are becoming a global phenomenon. Many countries have invested billions of dollars to have their own universities became so-called "world-class universities." Taiwan is not an exception. Ministry of Education has decided to invest NT$10 billion each year to universities in the hope that they will become world-class universities in 10 years. This paper takes the top 10 private and public world-class universities in the US, according to the ranking from "Academic Ranking of World University" of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and "World University Rankings" of the Times Higher Education Supplement, as the benchmark to investigate how much money will be needed in order to become a world-class university. Where do these world-class universities revenue come from? How do these universities spend their money? These are the questions to answer in this paper.
　　This paper finds that revenue and expenditure in these US top universities are extremely high. Most of their government revenue comes from grants and contracts, not from allocation. Their teaching force and supporting staff are much better than those in normal universities. Compared with resources in these world-class universities in the US, Taiwan's top universities are quite poor. This paper thus suggests 5 recommendations for Taiwan's government and universities on the way to becoming world-class universities.