College completion rate is a major challenge afflicting colleges and universities as well as students in the United States, particularly Hispanic students (Field, 2018). This qualitative case study investigated how Dominican students perceived their first year of college and how that perception impacted their retention in a community college in the Northeast. Participants included a purposeful sample of fourteen students (four students who enrolled during the fall of 2021, four students who did not continue for the spring of 2022, five students from a focus group, and one of the students from the focus group was interviewed for an in-depth one-on-one interview). In addition, two instructors from the SSD Course (New Student Orientation) and two staff members from the First Year Experience Committee were also interviewed to understand the topic being investigated through multiple perspectives. Students self-identified as Dominican by having at least one Dominican parent. Dominican students were described as a first-generation Dominicans (an individual who was born in the Dominican Republic) or second-generation Dominicans (an individual who was born in the United States). The researcher conducted virtual semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups. The findings from this study contributed to the gap in the literature on the retention of Dominican students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]