Look at tertiary study in terms of academic failure and attrition, and research clearly identifies the first year of study at university or TAFE as the year of highest risk. Put otherwise, completion of the first year is 'more than half the battle' when it comes to the completion of a degree or diploma. Since that's the case, it's worth developing a fuller understanding of young people's experiences and perceptions of their first year of tertiary study, particularly to understand why people change their course of study, why they discontinue their studies and how they develop as lifelong learners, which is the aim of the two recent research reports based on groups of young people the authors report here. One group completed Year Twelve in 2001 and entered tertiary education, that is, university or TAFE but not in a traineeship or apprenticeship, the following year. The second group completed Year Twelve in 1998 and entered university in 1999 or 2000.