As part of an effort to understand and reduce an unacceptable attrition rate at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Iowa, a study was conducted to determine students' reasons for coming to the college. All 584 students who applied for admission to KCC in winter 1984 were mailed a copy of the Student Goals Inventory, an instrument which assesses students' career, personal, social, academic, cultural, and community development goals. Study findings, based on responses from 133 of the applicants who actually enrolled, included the following: (1) the three career goal statements selected by students with the greatest frequency all related to acquiring and improving occupational skills; (2) with respect to personal development, the goal of "develop self-worth and confidence" was rated highest by almost all respondent sub-groups; (3) the number one social development goal selected by the students was "interact with people of various ages and backgrounds"; (4) "learning more about my field of interest" was the most highly ranked academic goal; (5) "pursuit of avocational interests" and "development of skills and interests for leisure time" were the highest ranked cultural development goals; and (6) the most highly ranked community development goal involved learning more about "the system." The study showed that students were interested in career development, yet not in participating in student organizations. They were also interested in interacting with groups of various ages and backgrounds, but not in learning more about different ethnic and minority groups. A five-page bibliography is included, and the survey instrument is appended. (EJV)