Based on a case study in Swedish municipal basic adult education this article addresses current policies for providing individualized and flexible learning, which have been reinforced in recent adult education reforms. Concepts from the organization theory of "action nets" have been used. Institutionalized procedures and a number of "organizing knots" have been identified. The results display a paradox in relation to the policy imperatives of individualization and flexibility: successful individualized and flexible studies show to be quite strictly conditioned. We provide different aspects of how students connect strongly to this rigorous learning design and perform well, but also confirm results of previous studies which show how such study forms require an "individual self-reliant learner". However, not all students act and participate in accordance with the institutionalized procedures. We identify a significant lack of organizing knots for a group of young students, who had recently arrived in Sweden without any of their family members and who encounter difficulties in pursuing their studies and need educational support. We discuss how this is related to the Education Act (SFS 2010:800, Ch. 2, §26) that states that professional and psychological support, health care and special needs is optional in municipal adult education, and argue that the current policy of Swedish adult education with the reinforced "individualized perspective" actually ignores the context and life situations of many individuals