This study serves as the preliminary analyses of a pilot study of community college students who persisted through their remedial classes and their programs of study and had attained the associate degree at a multicultural community college. This study is informed by Tinto's academic integration model, Astin's social involvement model and Freire's critical theory with attention to the ways that race, class, gender, the economy, education, religion, and sexual orientation interact to construct a social system. The researcher's goal was to identify how learning community experiences, notably the mentoring and networking opportunities, might have influenced experiences of the underprepared student. Individual Interview Protocol for Pilot Study is appended. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)