According to Public Agenda, which is a nonpartisan research group, the majority of people who drop out of college do so because they are having too much difficulty with going to school while working to support themselves at the same time.

The report, which was entitled “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them,” was written after conducting a survey with more than 600 people between the ages of 22 and 30. The survey studied both those who completed a degree or certificate from a two or four-year program as well as those who started to go to college but failed to complete it. The study found tat nearly 6 in 10 of those who dropped out received no assistance from their parents with paying for their tuition. Among those who finished their degree programs, on the other hand, more than 6 in 10 did receive tuition assistance from their families. Furthermore, about 7 in 10 of those who drooped out received no loan aid or scholarships while only about 4 in 10 of those who graduated went without this type of assistance.

Given these facts, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that household income also appears to play a role in whether or not college students complete their degrees. In fact, the researchers found that about three-quarters of those who complete their degrees had a household income of more than $35,000. More than half of those who dropped out, on the other hand, had a household income of less than $35,000.

The level of education that the students’ parents completed also had an impact on whether or not they completed their educational goals. Of those who graduate, 7 in 10 had parents who had also at least partially completed their college education. Among the dropouts, however, four in 10 had parents without an education beyond high school.

“The conventional wisdom is that students leave school because they aren’t willing to work hard and aren’t really interested in more education,” said Jean Johnson, who is the executive vice president of Public Agenda, in a New York Times article. “What we found was almost precisely the opposite. Most work and go to school at the same time, and most are not getting financial help from their families or the system itself.”

As the Obama administration pushes to get more people into college, this report sheds light on some of the factors that may be preventing this from happening. Of course, colleges need to put this information to use in order to find ways to make their programs more accessible to those who are interested in going to school. Some of the suggestions that survey participants offered included making more weekend and evening classes available, allowing part-time students to qualify for financial aid, providing child care and cutting the cost of going to college. Interestingly, the least popular potential solutions to the problem included simplifying the application process and offering more classes online.