The Consequences of Drop-Outs onthe Cost-Effectiveness of16-19 Colleges.

The extent of non-retention on post compulsory full-time education courses mainly undertaken by students in the 16-19 age group has become recognised as relatively large. Not the least of the concerns surrounding this, is the extent of resources devoted to initial enrolments on courses who ultimately do not achieve any level of certified outcome. In this paper we examine the extent of the problem for CGE Advanced Level courses in a number of colleges in the further education funded sector.