A longitudinal study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) to observe the performance and achievements of students entering the college each fall from 1977 through 1988. Academic and personal data from transcripts were analyzed for randomly selected samples of 200 full- and 200 part-time students from each fall's entering class. Study findings included the following: (1) the implementation of a policy in 1974 allowing faculty to give a grade of N rather than F to students who did not attend classes caused average GPA's to rise from 2.31 to 2.62 for full-time students and from 2.29 to 2.74 for part-time students; (2) full-time students entering WRHC after the age of 21 had GPA's 0.24 points higher than their younger counterparts, while part-time students over 35 achieved GPA's 0.87 points higher than part-time students under 21; (3) the average GPA of female students was 2.55, compared to 2.48 for males; (4) persistence rates remained fairly constant over the years, with approximately 66% of the first-time, full-time students returning the following fall; (5) part-time students attended WRHC for an average of 3.9 semesters and earned an average of 18 credit hours, while full-time students averaged 4.8 semesters and earned an average of 45 credit hours; (6) older students were more likely to drop out before graduation; (7) while 35% to 40% of the students attended another school before WRHC, only about 10% actually transferred credit hours to Harper; and (8) consistent with national trends, American College Testing program scores have been dropping over the years, although high school class rank has remained fairly constant. Longitudinal data tables are included. (JMC)