During the last decade, great strides have been made in the enrollment of black youth in colleges and universities. Despite these gains, at least two concerns remain. First, enrollment rates of black and white youth are not yet equal. Second, the retention rate among blacks who enroll is lower than that of white students. A longitudinal study of black youth, beginning with the senior year of high school and extending over a four year period, was conducted to examine the factors leading to entrance and retention in higher education. The study examines the attitudes, perceptions, and other nonacademic indicators that students had in high school as predictors of later educational attainment. In their senior year of high school, 140 black youth were questioned, and two and four years later, as many as could be located were again contacted. Sense of personal control, academic and application skills, educational aspirations, and parental expectations were measured. The findings support the following: (1) some of the factors that predict academic performance also predict educational attainment and retention in postsecondary eduation; (2) characteristics of black youth during their high school years predict later educational attainment; and (3) nonacademic indicators can be used to predict educational attainment among black youth. The nonacademic predictors considered important in this study included aspirations and expectations, self-perceptions, and others' perceptions. (Author/RLV)