Non-continuation in higher education is rising up the political agenda. In the vernacular, it is often described negatively as 'dropping out'. But despite any terminological confusion, all such measures describe a gap between learners' original stated intentions and their situation when they leave their course. This policy note looks at the scale of the problem, including showing that the UK has the lowest drop-out rate of any OECD country. It also considers which students are most at risk of not completing their courses and what changes could usefully be implemented to reduce non-continuation rates further.