An increasing number of students, who in past generations would successfully pursued careers without a college degree, are enrolling in college and, later, dropping-out at rates nearing 50% before their second year. The failure of college students to complete degrees harms their self-esteem, saddles them with student loan debt, and prevents the development of the 21st century workforce envisioned by state and national leaders. Academic advising is one of the most effective institutional tools supporting student persistence and degree completion according to leading researchers in the field. The majority of literature surrounding academic advising suggests that many institutions employ a transactional advising approach that, while cheap and efficient, is completely ineffective in supporting at-risk students. A more effective approach is an intrusive advising strategy in which the advisor proactively supports and educates thereby facilitating the transformation of high school graduates into persisting and successful college students. While this approach is both time consuming and expensive, it yields retention results worth investigating. Using a qualitative case study methodology, this research examined an intrusive academic advising approach at a large, public, four-year research institution struggling with the retention of an at-risk population comprising first-generational and under-prepared students. Ten student participants who underwent the advising approach shared their perceptions of the role the intrusive-developmental approach played in their academic success and choice to remain enrolled into their second year. Results indicate that proactive, intrusive advising paired with a close advisor-student working relationship provided at-risk students with the encouragement and support necessary for their persistence and success. [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.]