Adults are a significant, growing part of today's postsecondary education demographic that may face special challenges that classify them as at-risk. Specifically, adult "at-risk" students may be recent immigrants to the United States, residents of a home where English is not the native language, members of a minority group, employees working full-time or significant part-time hours, caretakers of dependent children or adults, or persons who have not been involved with formal schooling for a very significant amount of time. In addition, adult at-risk students may be poorly prepared for college-level work in English and mathematics, or may have poor study and time management skills. Placement tests may indicate that students should take remedial courses in areas of tested weaknesses, which often lengthens the time required to complete an educational program (Johnson-Hagins, 2007). Adult at-risk students may involuntarily separate from college because of poor academic performance. In addition, male adult at-risk students who are in good academic standing in their schools sometimes voluntarily leave prior to the completion of their degree requirements because of life-related issues, such as job, family, or children. Many groups of educational theorists deal with the problem of attrition. One group believes that the solution to attrition is an increase in cognitive function as it translates to a higher grade point average. They have postulated instructional strategies and metrics to enhance the adult educational experience and allow students to complete their education programs. Another group views attrition as the need to deal with the exigencies of life issues as seen by students' inability to merge into the culture of the college, the need to work, and/or the removal of factors that contribute to cognitive dissonance (Johnson, 2000; Tierney, 2000). This study quantitatively researches this question, "What are the academic and life factors that cause attrition among male adult at-risk students in a for-profit bachelor's degree-granting institution?" [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.]