This study examined the factors and barriers that CS students ranked as significant predictors of their decision to complete their degree. Four types of factors were used: learning environment, gains, barriers, and degree’s usefulness. In particular, factors related to cognitive/non-cognitive gains and challenging/supportive envi- ronment, and barriers related to personal values, quality of teaching, satisfaction with learning effectiveness, and usefulness of the degree were investigated in relation to student retention in CS studies. The eight-predictor model accounts for 39 % of explained variance in CS student retention. The results indicate that degree’s usefulness has a positive effect on retention. Additionally, cognitive gains and supportive environment positively impact degree’s usefulness, while non- cognitive gains hinder it. Finally, feelings (personal values) were found to nega- tively influence student retention. Overall, the results suggest that cognitive gains, non-cognitive gains (negative impact), supportive environment, usefulness of the degree and students’ personal values (e.g., lack of belongingness in the CS field) are considered crucial for retention in CS studies.