In a specialist further education college, it was recognised that students aged 16/17 transferring to vocational study after their compulsory schooling were refusing to take up their entitlement to additional learning support. This created a shortfall in the college's predicted units of funding; also, course managers reported that several of these students were finding it difficult to meet the academic content of their programmes of study. After investigation it was discovered that the reasons for refusing additional learning support were complex: a powerful mixture of issues relating to self-esteem, fear of discrimination and institutional pressure created by a need to maximise funding which had led to some poor practice in admissions and limited knowledge of differentiated learning and teaching strategies. The testimony of selected students gained through a process of formal interviews provided significant evidence which contributed to a change in additional support provision within the college.