The dissertation aims to identify the factors that influence the permanence of the students of the Integrated Technical Education of the Fluminense Federal Institute campus Cabo Frio. This is a longitudinal case study about the trajectory of incoming students in 2014 in the courses of Accommodation and Oil and Gas, covering the academic years of 2014, 2015 and 2016. Institutional records were consulted, questionnaires were applied to the students and semi-structured interviews were used to understand the students trajectories and their perceptions about the factors that influenced their permanence and / or dropout. The work includes a brief history about the trajectory of secondary vocational education and the recent expansion of the Federal Network of Vocational and Technological Education to contextualize and characterize the institution and its respective Student Assistance program. A sociodemographic profile of the students is then traced and their trajectories are described in the integrated technical courses of the IFF campus Cabo Frio. We then discuss the results observed in relation to the dropout and permanence factors in the institution. The study points the total or partial retention, the delays and interruptions of the school year due to staff s strikes, the extensive course load and the large number of tasks as factors that can influence dropout. Factors that influence permanence are the quality of the school, of classes and high school offered, the good relations between students, teachers and employees, the encouragement of student autonomy and the benefits of Student Assistance.