This paper explores the issue of how a country for which the prioritization of public spending towards poverty reduction is a key policy concern can monitor the distributional effects of public spending. Employing standard benefit-incidence analysis, this paper empirically examines how public education spending is currently distributed in Yemen. It also considers the extent to which the distributional benefit to the poor should and can be improved, focusing on possible changes in cost sharing for higher education and on associated changes in budget allocations. The findings support the government’s decision to increase cost sharing while maintaining a high overall level of public education spending and provide a benchmark from which to monitor the impact of this and other education spending decisions on the poor.