This research approaches from understanding the causes of university student desertion based on the incidence of public policies, statistics that show their state and students’ input, which permitted revealing feelings about factors that trigger it, at Systems Engineering and Mathematics programs and Careers programs of the UPTC during the period 2010-2017. An analysis was approached using a mixed approach, where the quantitative focus was primarily used for descriptive and correlational analysis, while the qualitative focus initially relied on the documentary review of national regulations and UPTC, PND (1998-2022), CONPES, program reports, Accreditation and University Well-being. The second moment, by understanding experiences lived by teachers and students, Hermeneutic phenomenology was used from Martin Heidegger’s perspective, subsequently, the information was triangulated under the Plano Clark criteria. Results indicate that there are differentiating aspects of the environment that rank and classify the young person by his social condition. In the Bachelor’s and the Mathematics Career, nherent disadvantages are identified in relation to the career paths that students choose for these fields, the social representation and the imaginary that they have about the programs are determining aspects to achieve educational success. The incidence of international organizations for establishment of guidelines to address student desertion is recognized. service condition assigned to education —interest in the cost/benefit—, expansion of coverage and the low graduation rates place dropout as a mandatory topic on the national political agenda. At the Institutional level, the guidelines established around accreditation and qualified registration processes were decisive in dealing with the high student dropout rates.
