Abstract
In this study institutional factors were examined to predict the students' withdrawal from or completion of university distance education programs. The factors were examined using a pilot sample of 127 students, and then reexamined in a sample of 587 students. Mixed paradigms were used. The quantitative approach was the dominant technique using factor analysis followed by discriminant analysis. This study seems to suggest that quality of instructor and use of technology-varieties are the factors that significantly discriminate between the students who leave and those who remain at the Arab Open University in Saudi Arabia.