A study reviewed the performance of all 2,896 General Educational Development (GED) holders who entered the 13 campuses of the University of Wisconsin (UW) system from Fall 1979 through Fall 1984. Retention of GED holders was a serious problem at all schools. Of the 1,982 GED holders in the study who left college before graduation, 35 percent had earned no credits and 85 percent did not reach their sophomore year. At the UW-Milwaukee campus GED holders were compared to high school graduates enrolled at the school. GED holders performed worse than high school graduates from the lowest 20 percent of their class on measures of grades, credits earned, and semesters completed. The study also found a decline in reading scores of GED holders applying to UW-Milwaukee. Students earning GED certificates before 1978 scored at least at the ninth-grade level in reading. Students earning GED certificates after the test revisions in 1978 scored as low as fifth- and sixth-grade levels. GED scores and age were not helpful predictors of success in college. Nearly one-fourth of the GED holders were required to take remedial mathematics; one-fifth were required to take remedial English. (YLB)