Australian higher education lags behind other western countries in relation to access and attainment of equity groups (Organisation for Economic Development [OECD], 2010). This is despite major policy reforms in the last two decades targeting better educational outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Australian Labor Government's Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) creates a new demand for evaluation methods that can establish whether interventions funded under the HEPPP contribute to the Commonwealth's policy goal of increasing the participation of low socioeconomic status students in university to 20% by 2020 (Oriel, 2011a). In 2011, AAIR received funding from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) to conduct a study to track student success. AAIR is undertaking the study in conjunction with Deakin University and Southern Cross University. Both universities have HEPPP funds available to undertake student cohort tracking programs. The initial phase of the ALTC study is focusing on how each of the participating universities approach their cohort tracking projects, the systems they are developing for capturing the essential data, and the lessons learnt as they progress their projects. The study is also considering comparative case studies both in Australia and internationally especially as they concern disadvantaged students. To better understand how to track these student cohorts, what attributes we need to focus on, over what period do we need to track them and why we are tracking them, this study has adopted an action learning methodology. Action Learning Teams (ALTs) have been established at Deakin University and at Southern Cross University. During this study, the project team will be monitoring its own learning pathways, activities and outcomes. Lessons learnt will contribute to the knowledge other institutions can take into their own cohort tracking projects. This article discusses the questions posed and challenges raised in the initial phases of conducting cohort tracking at each university.