BURGLARS who struck in Sebastopol on Friday night may have door-knocked several homes before choosing their victim.
An Alexandra St unit was robbed of two laptop computers between 8pm and 11pm.
Neighbours reported receiving a knock at the door from a young man asking for someone who didn't live there.
Up to three men may have been involved.
Police believe they were trying to establish if people were home.
The victims were Kelscha Lumsden and Shona Forrest, who are in their fourth and final years of teaching degrees at the University of Ballarat.
Their silver and black Compaq laptops are worth $2000 each.
But the two students were more concerned about the three year's worth of work the laptops contained.
Ms Lumsden said they were desperate to at least retrieve lesson plans, assignments and other information.
"This is our last year of uni and we're about to go on our biggest teaching rounds and we've got nothing," she said.
"We need all our lesson plans. What we want back most is our work.
"We've got to try and get jobs next year and we've built up resources over the last couple of years. Now all our hard work's just gone."
Ms Lumsden's schoolbag containing text books worth about $200 was also stolen.
However, the burglars dropped a bag of jewellery on their way out.
The burglary of a Talbot St South home the same night is believed to be related.
A guitar, camera and jewellery with a total value of $1420 was stolen.
Several other burglaries were reported on Friday and Saturday nights.
Anyone with information can call Ballarat Police on 5336 6000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.