In spring 1982, a statewide survey of students who entered Maryland community colleges for the first time in fall 1978 was conducted to evaluate the colleges' success in assisting students in goal achievement. Data were obtained from college records and from questionnaires mailed to 17,642 students, soliciting information on goals, goal achievement, employment, transfer, and student satisfaction. Study findings, based on a 37% response rate, included the following: (1) 76% of those students wishing to transfer had achieved their goal; (2) 74% of those enrolled in occupational programs were employed; (3) 95% expressed satisfaction with their program and 97% expressed satisfaction with the overall quality of their college; (4) 31% stated that their primary reason for attending college had been for transfer, and 32% indicated they attended college primarily to prepare for immediate entry into a career or to update skills for a job; (5) primary reasons non-graduates gave for not returning to college were scheduling conflicts (19%), goal achievement (18%), personal reasons (15%), or transfer (15%); and (6) 38% of those who attended college to obtain an associate degree achieved this goal. The study concluded that a continuing gap between minority and non-minority achievement requires college efforts to improve minority achievement, and the increased diversity of the student population requires college flexibility. The study questionnaire is appended. (LL)