Educational and occupational status projections are conceptualized as mobility linked social psychological components of more general status attainment models. Limitations of such submodels are noted and a rationale is offered. Investigating the stability and reciprocal linkage of 2 status projection variables in a subset of a Southern Youth Study, the dynamics of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations in a 3-wave, rural youth panel are analyzed using the Heise 2-variable path analytic technique. The data were collected over a 6 year period (1966-72) from 154 East Texas males who were originally sophomores in high school. Findings include: mean aspiration measures at each of the 3 waves were consistently larger than the expectation measures; prior levels of projections yielded a moderate level of predictions for subsequent measures; cross-lagged effects indicated that occupational decision-making occurred primarily after high school, and that educational decision-making occurred during high school. (Author/KM)