The objectives of this case study of equity and access to tertiary education in Vietnam are to (i) document the significance and consequences of disparities in tertiary education opportunities, particularly in specific instances and areas of Vietnam, (ii) investigate the results and lessons of efforts to expand access to tertiary education, and (iii) offer concrete recommendations for effective policies directed toward the ideas of widening participation. To pursue these research objectives, we evaluate students at three periods of their study life, i.e. access to universities; performance in universities; and completion from universities, using a number of individual and household characteristics. Our data include the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) in 2006 and a survey conducted at the National Economics University (NEU), Hanoi in late 2009. An important contribution of this paper is to highlight cases, in which equity provisions in tertiary education policies might have had detrimental effects on the quality of the tertiary system and on the capacity for a government to maximize the potential of tertiary education in stimulating economic growth and development.