Abstract
In this study learner characteristics' factors were examined to predict student withdrawal from, or completion of university distance education programs. The factors were examined using a pilot sample of 127 students, and then re-examined among 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 independent learning style is the only variable that significantly discriminates between the students who leave and those who remain at the Arab Open University (AOU) in Saudi Arabia.