This study examined environmental and institutional factors affecting persistence of Hispanic college students. The sample of 324 first- and second-year students surveyed in the spring of 1995 included students who were enrolled in programs at a private, Illinois, bilingual junior college which were established to educate students who were older, ill-prepared academically, out of school for a long time, and lacked financial resources. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the effect of the following variables: grade point average, mathematics ability, family and home responsibilities, financial problems, cultural affinity, social integration, satisfaction with faculty, academic difficulty, academic integration, goal commitment, institutional commitment, intent to persist, and encouragement and support that students receive from family, peers, and college staff, in a comprehensive model of student persistence. Findings confirmed the validity of the model to explain students' social and academic adjustment but not the impact of those experiences on their persistence. College-related factors such as social experiences, academic difficulty, and attitudes toward faculty influenced student commitments to degree completion and to the college. Despite expressed intentions to continue their college program, students' return to college in the fall seemed to be affected by factors outside the campus. A list of factor scale items is appended. (Contains 51 references.) (SW)