This paper considers the rate at which students are crossing the boundaries between Australian vocational and higher education. It finds that public universities admit a higher proportion of students on the basis of a vocational education qualification than do private colleges and that private colleges broadly do not admit a higher proportion of students from a low socioeconomic status background than public universities do. Vocational education transfers are most important in the higher education fields of nursing (22% of commencing students), education (13%) and information technology (12%). Upward transfers are least important in the natural and physical sciences (3.5%) and engineering and related technologies (6%). Some 17% of commencing students are from a low socioeconomic status background, but nursing (24%) and education (22%) provide more opportunities for students from a low socioeconomic status background. Conversely, fewer opportunities are provided in architecture and building (12%) and the creative arts (14%). There is considerable variation in the proportion of students that higher education institutions admit on the basis of vocational qualifications, even in a relatively homogeneous field such as nursing. Some of this apparent variation may be explained by different treatment of admissions data, but much remains unexplained.