The purpose of this proposed study was to address the issue of the effectiveness of community college retention programs, particularly their impact on poor or low-income students. Indeed, this study sought to identify actions and events that contributed to students choosing to drop out and the positive impact that college retention programs did or did not have in helping them decide whether to leave college. It sought to understand students' point of view as it pertains to why they left college and the role that college programs may have played in dissuading them from doing so. This study sought to identify the factors that contributed to students leaving school, how community college retention programs addressed these factors, and how these programs could be improved. A qualitative approach was selected for this study to gather detailed information about participants' feelings about the challenges they face and the support they do and do not receive and how both impact the decision to remain enrolled or leave college. A phenomenological research design was used. Rooted in the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, this research method is fundamentally interested in the experience of a group as experienced by that group with the intent of obtaining a description of a specific act or event (Creswell & Poth, 2017). The phenomenological approach holds that to do so, the researcher must go directly to those who have experienced the phenomenon first-hand; in this case, they are community college 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.]