College student success and graduation are important to students seeking a degree and to the nation's communities (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998), yet only just better than half of the students who enroll in 4-year colleges and universities will receive a bachelor's degree within 6 years (Astin, 1985). Past studies have shown that students who graduate from college also report gains in multiple areas such as factual knowledge, intellectual skills, and a "broad array of value, attitudinal, psychosocial, and moral dimension" (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, p. 557). Traditional predictors of college persistence and academic success center on the student's high school grade point average (GPA) and standardized test scores, such as the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as appropriate means for establishing admissions eligibility (Guidelines on the Uses of College Board Test Scores and Related Data, 1988). Historically, the traditional predictors of student success in college, ACT/SAT and high school GPA, have been shown to account for only a modest amount of variance (25%) of a student's academic performance in college as reflected by their GPA. According to Astin (1993), among the current admissions data available, a student's high school GPA and standardized test score were the two strongest predictors of his or her college GPA out of the current admissions data available. These data have yielded modest prediction results on a consistent basis. Due to these past findings, many scholars have called for more focus on nontraditional predictors of college performance. While high school GPA and standardized test scores have been shown to be the best predictors of college success, recent research demonstrates that high school GPA and ACT scores are unrelated to prediction of college graduation (Schuh, 1999). Success in college, as defined by student retention and academic performance, may be related to other variables or combinations of variables. This research explored potential effects of emotional intelligence on a student's ability to persist and graduate in a 4-year period.