The purpose of this research is to examine factors influencing the academic success of student athletes participating in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA); a growing and largely unstudied group of students. This study uses institutional data collected for the NAIA's Return on Athletics® initiative in 2019-2020 as well as, data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Five research questions used logistic regression to explore factors that influence student athlete retention, graduation, differences for varsity and non-varsity athletes, for various levels of academic performance, and athletic scholarship totals. All data were analyzed using STATA. The findings from this study are that while overall, student athletes represented in this data set are retained at a high rate, certain sub-groups may be at risk for attrition. Specifically, non-varsity athletes are less likely retained. Additionally, student athletes with a grade point average below a 3.0 or those who have been enrolled at an institution for less than five semesters are less likely to be retained. Black student athletes were found to be more likely to complete degrees and graduation was found to be positively influenced by financial aid in the form of work-study. Lastly, results of this research indicate the Return on Athletics® data initiative is a viable tool for analyzing factors that influence student athlete success. Based on the findings of this research, this paper includes recommendations for continued and improved Return on Athletics® data collection. Additionally, recommendations are provided for targeting student athlete success initiatives at specific sub-groups of the population who may be particularly at risk for retention issues. Finally, in an effort to build on this research and advance student athlete academic success, suggestions for future research are included. [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.]