The purpose of the quantitative descriptive study was to gain an understanding of the motivating factors leading high school students from rural and urban schools to receive a diploma. A revised version of the High School Motivation Scale (Close, 2001; Solberg et al., 2007) generated from SurveyMonkey.com was administered to high school graduates 18 years of age and older, through the social network Facebook. The study did not specifically measure the independent variables found in the research questions: graduation success rates, parental support, peer influence, and academic preparation. The research questions were generally answered by the surrogate variables that were chosen for the similarity to the variables in the research questions. The general success factors noted in the study were the importance of learning, the importance of education, and not wanting to let others down. Strategies that include the students, parents, teachers, school administrators, public officials, and policy makers might be more successful if learner input about what made them successful is included. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]