In the labour market, formal qualifications--both school and vocational or university degrees--are of increasing importance. This may be especially true in Germany, where formal qualifications are highly valued. Dropping out of vocational or university training is therefore regarded as a risk for young people in the process of entering the labour market. In the present paper, two questions are being addressed: (1) Who are the young adults who are at risk of dropping out? (2) What happens to them, i.e. do they get a chance to resume their education and if so, who is more likely to do so? Using a longitudinal perspective, both individual factors such as scholastic achievement, intelligence or motivation and structural factors pertaining to the education system are taken into account. Both kinds of influencing factors are shown to contribute to the likelihood of dropping out and starting again.