The admissions process to post secondary schooling is examined, and the complex of academic, financial, geographic, and motivational barriers to access that are currently being overcome are identified in this dissertation. The objectives are to analyze and discuss various topics and to use them to illuminate institutional policies and practices to increase their understanding, how they evolved and the forces at work in setting them, and how they affect their institutions. Two case studies, Roosevelt University in Chicago and the State of Hawaii University System, are utilized to illustrate and explain the process and the barriers, while discussing concepts such as merit, equality, excellence, liberty, and justice. Methodology employed includes a historical and sociological analysis, interviews, and case studies. The results of the study are: a display of open admissions and how it works; an illustrated definition of the process; an examination of earlier philosophies of access and the differences between Land-Grant attempts at expanding access and more recent efforts, and a further understanding of the various processes of access to schooling and its benefits. It is concluded that, to some extent, the opening of admissions represents a state of mind, a philosophy of access, and not a specific occurrence. (Author/AM)