A five-year, four-wave, longitudinal study of 2,788 youth from seven public and parochial, urban and suburban school systems in the southern tier of New York provided data, through survey questionnaires, for a comparative analysis of students entering two-year and four-year colleges, and students who terminated their formal education with a high school diploma. With a remarkable degree of consistency, two-year college entrants ranked more or less in the middle of a continuum bounded, on the upper end, by four-year college entrants, and, on the lower end, by those who only graduated from high school. Compared to the students entering the four-year college, two-year college entrants were of lower socioeconomic origin, lesser scholastic ability, and reported less peer/parental/high school influence to continue their education; were less likely during high school to have been in the college-preparatory curriculum, to have participated in extra-curricular activities, to have had high academic motivation, positive attitudes toward education, or a superior record of academic performance; were less positive about themselves as human beings; and were somewhat more critical about selected aspects of the social, economic, and political system while, at the same time, were less involved or sympathetic toward those seeking systemic changes. (JDS)