 <p>I <em>think</em> you want this:</p> <pre><code>$('#term').load('fetchcourses.php?', function() { $('[name=s2]').change(function() { $('#dept').load('fetchcourses.php?term='+$(this).val()); }); }); </code></pre> <p>The function passed to <code>load()</code> gets executed once the data is loaded. So if <code>$('[name=s2]')</code> actually refers to elements that are contained in the HTML returned from <code>fetchcourses.php</code>, then this should work.<br> But without telling more about the structure it is difficult to tell...</p>