And though the path to higher education is never easy, for some it's a remarkable achievement.
18 year-old Joska Tschombe will start a Bachelor of Business this week.
The Adelaide-based student has reached the milestone at the same age as her peers despite years of disrupted schooling due to war and displacement.
Ms Tschombe's family is Sudanese, but moved to Uganda to escape civil war before she was born.
Her first school experience began while she was living in a refugee camp, and ended when an unstable social and political environment made her parents fear for her safety.
"I was in primary school, and that's when I stopped. At the time I stopped, they said that peace was back in Africa. And everyone was like, going back to Sudan, and it was chaos. Because other people, they were trying to kill other people who are a still in the village, trying to go back to Sudan. So we had to stop school and just stay home."
Coming to Australia almost ten years ago brought new challenges.
"It was fun but at the same time, difficult, because you make new friends and you want to talk to them but there's no way of communication, because you don't know how to speak English."
Hieu Tran also comes from a refugee background.
His parents arrived with few possessions from Vietnam before he was born in the hope of giving their children a better life.
Their vision was fulfilled after Hieu received an ATAR higher than 98.
He'll now follow his older sisters into higher education, planning to study a Bachelor of Architectural Design at the University of South Australia.
"We're the first in our family. My parents, neither of them finished high school, because their parents didn't have enough money for them to go to school."
For both families, helping their children with their studies proved challenging.
As well as the language barrier, money to support schooling was also an issue.
They each sought help from charity The Smith Family, which provided financial and educational support through their Learning for Life program.
Chief Executive of the Smith Family, Dr Lisa O'Brien, says the program is currently helping 34,000 Australian students complete their schooling.
"The kids the Smith Family supports absolutely start school behind. They're growing up in disadvantaged communities, we know they start school developmentally vulnerable. They often fall further behind through their schooling, and they're far less likely to achieve an amazing milestone like completing year 12."
For both Hieu and Joska, who plans to become a lawyer, the goal is to pay it forward.
"Back in Africa, there's not really enough laywers or just people to support the community. If I become a lawyer, maybe I can go back to Africa and then help out people there."
But first, there'll be a few more years hitting the books.
