The article is devoted to the analysis of the human capital of unsuccessful college and university students. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to "save" and develop the human capital of students in the context of the transformation of secondary vocational and higher education in Russia. We substantiate the need to consider students of colleges and universities in the relationship, as two educational communities that have many common characteristics of human capital and the conditions for its formation. The connection between the two educational communities is determined by the processes of human capital transfer in the system of vocational education and the transformation of the educational tracks of students. The article presents our (author's) theoretical andmethodological approach, which conceptualizes the phenomena of students' educational failure and their human capital in the system of professional education. Our approach is verified in an empirical study, which has been carried out in 2019-2021 in Sverdlovsk region. Conclusions are drawn about the key characteristics of the human capital of unsuccessful college and university students in the region.