This study investigated the influence of socioeconomic background on enrollment pattern of secondary school students in Awka metropolis of Anambra state. The study examined how students’ background, parents’ cultural inclination, social status and gender influence students’ enrolment into secondary schools in the metropolis. The study adopted the survey research design with a population that consisted of all parents of students in secondary schools in Awka metropolis. Multi-stage sampling was adopted to select sample. Total enumeration was used to select two Local Government Areas (LGA)s in the Metropolis while random sampling technique was adopted to select 870 participants for the study. Socio-Economic Status Scale (SESC, r=0.72) was used to collect data and Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to analyse  data at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed a significant relationship between parents’ socio-economic background and students’ enrolment (r = 0.56; p< 0.05). Students’ cultural background correlated positively with students’ pattern of enrolment (r = 0.63; p<0.05) and students’ gender have significant positive relationship with students pattern of enrolment (r = 0.813; p< 0.05). Based on the result, inference was made that students’ socio-economic background is a strong determinant of pattern of students’ enrolment in the study area. It was recommended that the implementation of basic education policy should take into consideration social, economic and cultural elements of the society in question.