The article provides theoretical and methodological aspects of motivating students to study in higher education establishment. It is proved that motivation is the system of complementary motives formed and manifested in the activities. The aim of this article is to study the characteristics of educational motivation of students of higher education with the allocation of leading motives. The article emphasizes that the motives for “learning knowledge” and “mastering the profession” are the leading motives for students. Less significant is the motive “getting a diploma” and that success affects students' learning motivation. Studying motivation is defined as a form of motivation that is a part of studying and educational activities. They are determined the following motives of student learning: cognitive, broad social, pragmatic, professional-axiological, aesthetic, status-positional, communicational, traditional-historical, utilitarian-practical, educational-cognitive, social and personal prestige, unconscious, etc. During the study it was found that success is not always determinative in motivation to study. Respondents’ answers to the open questions of the questionnaire were controversial. Certain personal qualities were called by some students as the ones that promote studying, while the other respondents want to get rid of them. This suggests that motivation in studying is affected by student’s character and his or her personal qualities.