Over the last 20 years the expansion in the number of university entrants has been an essential component of the educational policy in Greece. The expansion has taken place via two distinct paths. The first one was by increasing the number of entrants through the dominant mode of general examinations, while the second one was the parallel increase in the number of entrants through 'other modes'. The group titled 'other modes' incorporates eight different categories of university entrants,

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... buting approximately 20% to the total student body. The expansionary policy has taken place along with a university regulatory framework allowing for an unlimited time horizon for the completion of studies. This framework has been revised in 2007 by the law 3549/2007 imposing the time limit of 8 years for the completion of studies. Given the substantial variation in the academic qualifications among students, it is interesting to know which categories of entrants run the highest risk of failing to complete studies. In this study the individual records of 2,500 students, covering two cohorts of entry in the University of Macedonia are analyzed by means of a binary probit model. After the estimation of our proposed specification, the derived results indicate that the likelihood of failing, that is to exceed 8 years of studies, is much higher for the students from 'other modes' than it is for the students from the general examinations.