In the first two years (1982-84) of a projected 5-year longitudinal study of communication apprehension and academic achievement, data were collected for 1,884 incoming college freshmen at West Virginia University. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension was administered to the subjects during freshmen orientation. For each semester during the two years, the official grade point averages and retention/drop-out behavior of the students were analyzed. It was hypothesized that students with high communication apprehension would have lower grade point averages than those with lower apprehension, and that the drop-out rate among students with high communication apprehension would be higher than that among students with lower apprehension. The results of the analyses supported both hypotheses. High apprehensives were approximately 29% more likely to leave school before the end of their first semester and 37% more likely to leave in the first two years than were those with low apprehension. High communication apprehensives achieved lower grade-point averages and earned slightly fewer credits than did those with low apprehension, for each of the semesters studied. (HTH)