The determinants of educational and occupational continuation of younger people in India are still attributed to their socio economic background (primary effects). This deters the government from taking steps to bring the disadvantaged youngsters' higher education, since there is not much one can do to improve the social origin factors. The secondary effects of social origin are often neglected with a conviction that these effects have still not come to play a role as a determining factor in educational continuation decisions of Indian students. The present study was thus conducted to understand the determinants of students' continuation decisions to higher education. Theory of planned behavior is tested here, using its constructs. The study was conducted among 300 higher secondary school students of Kerala state in India. Schools and classes were selected randomly and data were collected from intact classrooms. Achievement test scores were collected from school records. The questionnaire used by Ajsen is modified and validated for the use in this study for assessing the planned behavior of students. The continuation decisions, the dependent variable are considered as a binary variable and the response was sought with a question of whether they will continue to higher education or not. The results of the present study give a clear indication of the manifestation of secondary effects in higher education decisions. Attitude toward Behavior and Perceived Behavioral Control have significantly predicted the intention of higher secondary students for continuing to higher education. Subjective Norms are found not predicting the decisions.