This is not merely a semantic debate: universities in England now face clear incentives to encourage student completion in the ‘normal’ time and non-completion whatever the cause is penalized financially8. If indeed poorer students are more likely to drop out than their more advantaged counterparts for a given level of prior achievement, this may lead to a tension between the widening participation agenda that encourages greater participation by deprived students and the desire by universities not to incur penalties from high levels of student withdrawal (Palmer, 2001).