Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) including the 1976 follow-up were used to examine the effects of interrupting or delaying school attendance on the eventual educational attainment of white male students. Background variables include socioeconomic and other family characteristics. Achievement test scores, grade point average, and age-grade retardation were also included in the study. The criterion for the study was projected educational attainment at four and a half years after high school graduation. Path analysis was used to study the relationships among the 18 variables. The best predictors of educational attainment were educational aspiration, ability as indicated by test scores, occupational aspiration, and high school grade point average in that order. In this sample of 3300 students, 76 percent obtained some post-high school education. Of this group, 16 percent delayed their entry into post high school education, 15 percent interrupted their post high school education, and 16 percent attended other than two or four year colleges. It was concluded that delaying or interrupting post-secondary education did not handicap eventual educational attainment, and neither did delayed high school graduation. (CTM)