The factors that influence students' educational aspirations are of critical importance to both teachers and policy makers. To determine how grade eight students in Toronto make the decision whether or not to attend college, 120 inner-city eighth graders and some of their parents, teachers and principals were interviewed. In the second stage of the study 3,969 eighth grade students were surveyed, and in the third stage 231 students were involved in indepth interviews. The most important finding of the study was that eighth grade students, as a whole, value education second only to health and family. Over half (58%) were considering college. Students who felt they had the ability and planned to go to college were more likely to come from a higher socioeconomic level. Parents and teachers were listed as having the most influence on their plans. Money was not found to be a deciding factor in the decision to attend college; most students did not have information about college costs or family income. A series of 51 tables presents the findings of the surveys in detail. In addition, the appendices contain a list of schools in the study, tables showing students' country of birth, sample letters and consent forms for parents, interview and survey questions, teacher rating forms and information on students in nontraditional courses. (JAC)