China has made huge strides in expanding access to higher education since the 1980s. The main approach to achieve mass higher education was cost-sharing reforms of tertiary education. This article examines the policy reforms that affected tuition, fees and subsidies for tertiary students since the end of the 1980s and looks at the effects in terms of equity and access. It also examines institutional responses to the various policy changes as they competed for state funds. Using relevant literature, officially published statistical data and results from the related surveys, it identifies the patterns of inequality among four disadvantaged groups. Finally, it analyses the major determinants/contributors to inequality of access to higher education including state and institutional policies and practices, and tuition-related and student-support related factors.