The expansion of higher education has become a significant trend in the East Asia region, and Taiwan has proven no exception. The driving forces of higher education expansion in Taiwan include enhancing national competitiveness and human capital, responding to social and industrial needs, and reducing educational inequalities among social groups. This dissertation aims to answer the core question, "can higher education expansion in Taiwan reduce educational inequalities?" In this dissertation, several theories are utilized to help explain the inter-relationship between college access, equity, and student success in Taiwan. These theories are: social and cultural reproduction theory, MMI hypothesis, EMI hypothesis, human capital theory, economics of discrimination, and college student development theories. All findings in this dissertation are based on literature review, document analysis, and quantitative analysis. The data for literature review and document analysis are collected from academic journals and policy reports in both Taiwan and the United States. The data for quantitative analysis are collected from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, Executive Yuan in Taiwan, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Taiwan Integrated Postsecondary Education Database (TIPED), and the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC). The findings of this dissertation can be divided into six sections. First, the historical analysis of higher education expansion finds that the postsecondary education system in Taiwan has entered the phase of universal access. Resulting from this process of expansion, the profound growth of private technical institutions provides more college entrance opportunities for high school graduates in Taiwan. However, this analysis leads to the conclusion that the global competition of higher education and the world class university policy in Taiwan could constitute a new form of tracking at the postsecondary level. Second, according to the analysis of tuition fees and cost sharing of college education, the costs of attending college in Taiwan are within the middle range among other developed countries in the world; however, the difference of fees between public and private institutions is significant, and the cost sharing of the private institutions relies heavily on educational loans instead of providing assistantships. Third, this dissertation confirms the importance of receiving college education for students' future employment, personal earning, and occupational prestige. Stratification among higher education institutions in Taiwan exists in the context of comparing the economic returns of college degree. Fourth, in terms of the impact of higher education expansion on college access in Taiwan, the MMI hypothesis can successfully explain the changes of college enrollment rates among students with different family income backgrounds. When we take the differentiation of higher education into consideration, the EMI hypothesis is consistent with the case of Taiwan, showing that minority students would have higher probabilities to enroll in the private technical institutions. Fifth, according to the analysis of CPEC data, the relationship between college access and differentiation of higher education in California shows also, as predicted by EMI, that there are more minority students enrolling in the community colleges. However, four features of the community colleges in California, "open access for all", "affordability", "transfer pathways", and "geographic accessibility", offer ways of ensuring educational opportunities. This dissertation concludes that education planning, affordability, and quality assurance of lower tier institutions are the key for educational equality. Sixth, the application of I-E-O model and causal analytical modeling via blocked regression analysis helps to find causal factors of PRTU students' academic achievement. These factors include: quality of student effort, living in student dormitories, and availability of multicultural information on campus. The causal factors of PRTU students' self-rated ability include quality of student effort, interactions with peers and faculty, and participation in the student clubs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]