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University deferrers in metropolitan and non-metropolitan Victoria: A longitudinal study

This article investigates the phenomenon of university deferral and its impact on regional youth in Australia. It seeks to compare and contrast the post-school pathways and experiences of metropolitan and non-metropolitan deferrers over a period of three years following completion of school, with a view to establishing the unique characteristics of the barriers faced by non-metropolitan deferrers in Australia. Our research indicates that regional school completers are twice as likely to defer as school completers from the city. Three years out from school, a little over two-thirds of the regional deferrers in our study ended up at university. However, this still means that about one-third never took up their offer or dropped out soon after doing so. Financial stresses and travel-related factors seem to be the biggest barriers to taking up their place at university, particularly in the first year out of school.