The Authors made a survey regarding the motivations which make the students leave the nursing degree course (NDC). The statistical data regarding the abandonment of university courses in Italy say that a 19/20% of the students leave the courses. As regards the whole University of Milan, the amount of those students (18,3%) lays under the national average. The authors made a survey about the motivations which lead the students of nursing to the abandonment of their academic path; via the offices of the nursing schools they collected the telephone numbers of the students enroled between 2000 and 2006, then they made a structured telephonic interview. An 87,7% of the interviewed students said that he/she had abandoned during the first year; the motivations are the following, in order of frequency: Too much engagement (30.1%), Other (26%), this item offers several answers, for example pregnancy, emotive problems, personal problems, Change of the academic path (23,3%) Expectations Disappointment (12,4%), Economic problems (8.2%). The survey is qualitative; it wants to be a first-step study to deeply analyze a topic of major interest in the field of nursing courses management.