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The decision whether or not to undertake higher education studies is influenced by a wide range of economic, social and educational reasons. The first section of this report attempts to identify factors that explain low rate of participation and in particular address the issue of whether the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) discouraged persons from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds from undertaking higher education. The next section sets out the development of definitions of socio-economic status used to measure the participation of persons from low SES background and describes their historically low participation. A description of the policy response aimed at improving the participation levels is the focus of the third section. Underlying reasons are canvassed in the fourth section. Various methodologies are discussed but each of the methodologies employed - attitudinal surveys, multi-variate analysis and quasi-experimental analysis - point to HECS being only a minor influence for low participation. Other factors, such as values and attitudes, which may influence participation in higher education are discussed in section five.