A study was conducted at Shelby State Community College (SSCC) in Tennessee to determine the extent, causes, and solutions to the problem of student retention. The study involved: (1) a comparative analysis of headcounts to assess the extent of the dropout problem, which indicated that enrollments declined sharply from 5,289 in 1983 to 3,399 in 1987 even though new enrollments were fairly stable during that period; (2) an analysis of data on 50 randomly selected student withdrawals to determine why students discontinued enrollments at SSCC, which revealed that many students had not officially withdrawn, that most had not given specific reasons for withdrawing, and that many who gave "academic" reasons for withdrawing were actually in good academic standing; and (3) a review of the literature on the nature and scope of student attrition and on retention factors to help devise a retention plan to mitigate low enrollments. Based on study findings, a retention plan focusing on faculty awareness and development activities, peer counseling, career assistance, learning support activities, expanded orientation, and improved academic advising was developed. (EJV)