Analysing part of a doctoral research with students from distance education in public and private universities (HEI) in Brazil, this article focuses the reasons of their adherence and permanence in this modality. Based on these results, the article discusses some new strategies for the dropout phenomenom. This is an exploratory study through a data approach with a mixed perspective . The material collected followed a research with questions available on the internet. The sample consisted of 605 persons, aged between 18-61 years (M = 32.39, SD = 9.25), 216 men (36.0%) and 384 women (64%). The results show that most of the factors are the personnel adhesion categorized as personal identification or course affinity. Other important factors in the study are: flexibility, gratuity, logistics, modality, accessibility and the possibility of combining studies with other activities. Regarding institutional or academic issues, the article highlights the importance given to the “name” or “renown” of the institution and to the quality of the HEI as the course and the educational and operational staff involved. The results allowed the categorization of 13 items for reasons of adherence and 13 items of permanence, which were arranged in three dimensions: personal or endogenous issues in students, academic or exogenous issues of students as well as contextual issues involving the student and the course.
High education; Distance education; College students; Motivation
