Online graduate degree program offerings are increasing in popularity, and online graduate students need support to acclimate to their degree programs. Online orientations have been effective in undergraduate programs; however, there is limited research on the effectiveness of online orientations in online graduate degree programs. The problem addressed in this study was that students at an online doctoral/professional university dropped out within their first four program courses at a much higher rate than those who persisted past the fourth course. Institutional leaders needed to better understand the effectiveness of the online orientation program to increase student persistence. The purpose of this qualitative single intrinsic case study was to understand students' perceptions about the effectiveness of an online doctoral/professional university's orientation program. Alexander Astin's input-environment-outcome (IEO) model served as a conceptual framework to explore sample students' perceptions. Fourteen students responded to a qualitative questionnaire, and four of those respondents participated in an additional focus group to share their perceptions of the effectiveness of the online orientation. The data collected were coded using NVivo software and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, resulting in one theme for RQ1 and two themes for RQ2. Study findings indicated online orientations for online graduate programs are needed to acclimate students to self-directed learning and graduate-level skills and competencies for success. Findings also indicated that online orientations provide students a foundation to leverage university resources and services as tools to support persistence. Recommendations include that online orientations should be offered and perhaps made mandatory, and orientations should include relevant content and learning applications that prepare students to perform academically and persist in their programs. [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.]