This study surveyed 113 undergraduate and graduate distance education students at 2 U.S. universities using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The MSLQ is an 81-item, self-report instrument designed to measure study participants' motivational orientations and their use of different learning strategies. The motivational orientations measured were: intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and test anxiety. The learning strategies measured were: rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, time and study environment, effort regulation, peer learning, and help seeking. The study revealed that self-efficacy, effort regulation, and peer-learning correlated with student retention in the distance education programs.