This article utilizes interview data to explore how notions of risk operate in a school-university partnership program. Our analysis traces the divergence between conceptualizations of "at-risk" in scholarship, its use in policy, and students' responses to this terminology. Although students targeted in such programs are often constructed in both scholarship and policy in terms of deficiency, it is a designation the students themselves are often quite resistant to, and consider it to be an inaccurate representation of their circumstances. We conclude by suggesting that despite the pervasive contemporary espousal of inclusivity and equity in education, universities essentially remain the site of exclusionary practice. (Contains 13 notes.)