Students are the core of higher education. At its best, higher education and "college" transforms students, equipping them with life-long learning skills, a degree in hand, and well-rounded academic coursework, experiences and advising to prepare for life and a career. Critical student issues, however, challenge this transformation by affecting their higher education experience, persistence (staying in "college") and completion (finishing "college"). By default, then those issues matter the most. This report and the contents therein seeks to identify those critical student issues, as well as the challenges that institutions face when addressing them, and formulate recommendations at the institution and state/system levels that improve the student experience, persistence and completion. The context for the review and the process for issue identification are intentionally brief to elevate what matters most -- the critical student issues. Appendix A offers more details on the background and process through which critical student issues and the challenges institutions face in addressed them were identified.