Drive format for Mac and PC running Vista?

I teach in a Mac lab and have students who have PC's at home. In the past, I advised them to reformat their portable HD as FAT 32. Now, based on communication from one student and research I have done online, it seems that Vista cannot read a FAT 32 partition.
Is this true?
If so, is there another format that can be used on both Mac OSX v. 10.5 and Vista?

Is this true?
No. Vista can't boot from FAT32 drives, but can read and write them.
(47153)

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