ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on younger students who persisted with their studies, often extremely successfully and sometimes despite great difficulties. It is derived from the transcripts of interviews made with twenty ‘continuing’ younger students and looks at the students’ educational histories, their study experiences, their personal lives and plans. It is never easy to trace back exactly how students came to hear about the Open University and consider its opportunities seriously. Few students had precise memories of how they had heard of the OU. An obvious hypothesis was that the younger students who were successful would be those who were well organised, with well planned study schedules, and who led reasonably predictable lives. However, it transpired from the interviews that the successful students had also had their share of upheavals at home and at work, and they had survived because they had been able to adapt to meet these extra demands.
