Students enrolled in a Technical College in Georgia were surveyed in an attempt to identify characteristics common to those who departed their program of study prior to completion. The results of the survey were then analyzed in view of Tintos Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure, to determine whether the technical college students characteristics could be used to predict their early departure. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to arrive at the conclusion that the technical college students differed from students of four-year and other two-year colleges in terms of individual motivation and goal orientation.