Nontraditional students make up a majority of post-secondary online learners in the United States. The development of online learning modalities continues to grow and transform the educational landscape, providing expansive options and vastly improving student access to completing an undergraduate program. Unfortunately, with this growth, online degree programs continue to experience rates of attrition significantly higher than those of classroom-based programs. This qualitative general inductive analysis study explores the lived experiences of eleven adult learners who attempted to complete an online undergraduate degree at one or more higher education institutions. These students were enrolled in an online undergraduate degree and dropped out before completing their first year. Participants were interviewed in face-to-face video meetings, with each sharing a recollection of their lived experience as they explored degree options, enrolled in their program, completed required coursework, and ultimately withdrew from a degree. The theoretical framework used for this study is Rovai's (2003) Composite Persistence Model (CPM). The stories told by each participant reveal a diverse and expansive set of challenges encountered by undergraduate online adult learners. The student stories show the ongoing struggle to balance the costs and benefits associated with persistence in an online degree program. The variety of challenges and support systems present in each student's life illuminates the critical importance of focused institutional engagement and involvement in the student's journey. This support is crucial to a student's ability to successfully manage their coursework with other life priorities and maintain motivation to persist in an online undergraduate degree program. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]