This special issue introduces a set of article addressing the question of what "fairness" means with respect to the distribution of access to higher education. Articles herein address the criteria that "should" be used to allocate funding, offers of admission at selective institutions, and conceiving and assessing "merit." Collectively, the articles confirm the self-sustaining, cumulative nature of economic, cultural, and educational advantage, the ideal of equal opportunity in access to higher education notwithstanding.