In this chapter, we examine how state governments have shaped postsecondary access and equity in the USA from the nineteenth century through the early twenty-first century. While federal initiatives such as the GI Bill and Pell Grants often dominate scholarly and public narratives about college access, the most consequential policymaking authority has long happened in the states. We argue that state actions have produced a profoundly uneven record—oscillating between inclusionary reform and deliberate exclusion. The chapter is organized into six sections: (1) state-level policy frameworks, (2) state governance and accountability, (3) institutional expansion and reform, (4) student-level justice and aid, (5) state financing and its bearing on equity, and (6) state-specific contexts. Across these, we synthesize research from education history, sociology, public policy, and political science to illuminate the interplay between ideology, politics, and legitimation. We conclude that while state governments have unmatched capacity to promote equity and opportunity in higher education, they have more often reinforced exclusion and stratification. We close by calling on historians and policy scholars to collaborate across disciplinary lines in order to conceptualize more just and coherent approaches to state higher education policy.