A study examined the difficulties encountered by first-year, part-time Technical and Further Education (TAFE) students that cause them to consider withdrawing from, and in many cases, dropping out of their TAFE programs. Questionnaires were administered to 4,150 early withdrawers (persons who dropped out between January 1 and May 16, 1986), 2,940 later withdrawers (those who dropped out between May 17 and October 30, 1986), and 1,405 program persisters (persons still in the program as of October 31, 1986). Of those variables that affected 17 percent or more of the respondents, six could be classified as academic, four as environmental, one as a background variable, and one as a defining variable. The variables that were most likely to result in a decision to drop out were as follows: inability to resolve the pressures from mixing the demands of home, work, and study; difficulties in establishing a study routine; difficulties in organizing study time; teaching methods that did not stimulate interest; too much difficulty in meeting family commitments; an expansion of career options by virtue of only taking part of a course (thus obviating the need to complete a course); impossibility of home study because of home jobs; inadequate study skills; inability to cope with both work and study; failure to find a course interesting; and excessive demands imposed by after-work travel to college. (Appendixes include the questionnaires for early and later withdrawers and for program completers, a list of the liaison researchers who participated in the study, and the original and followup letters that were sent to early withdrawers.) (MN)