Background: Student repetition is a multifactorial phenomenon, of a socio-educational type, associated with different characteristics (sociodemographic, academic, family) in students of institutions, being a recurring manifestation in university institutions, which makes evident the need to identify the factors that intervene in the process, which would help to avoid or reduce dropout. Purpose: to determine the academic, social and family factors associated with student repetition in dental students from a university institution on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Methods: descriptive, cross-sectional study, in a representative sample of dental students in a repetition and non-repetition condition, who voluntarily answered a validated instrument to measure, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics, the associated factors that may influence student repetition and familiar functionality. Results: of 244 participants with a predominance of the female gender, 40,2 % repeating. they never received vocational guidance (19,4 %), in general they reported good family functionality (91 %). The factors associated with student repetition were: socioeconomic status, academic levels and income of the parents, Saber11 test results and the number of times they have repeated a semester and / or a subject. Conclusion: The identification of these factors allows the design of strategies that encompass the impact of this condition so that higher education institutions can act in a timely manner to reduce these rates.