The Australian federal government recently set a challenging national aim: By 2020, 20% of higher education enrolment at the undergraduate level will include students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although refugee-background students are often members of the targeted sub-population, their educational journeys frequently require special forms of support to ensure academic success. This article reports and discusses the findings of a multisite, qualitative study of refugee-background learners across three regional areas. Based on semi-structured interview data, participants from three universities and six high schools identified three primary domains that educators must address to promote student success: prior life experiences, language development and the culture of learning environments.