Access to higher education fosters academic and career pathways for learners to attain personal and professional success. Given various political, social, and economic impacts, the landscape of higher education is continuously evolving. Such evolution among higher education institutions can present challenges for the senior academic leadership, including diminished job satisfaction and concerns about institutional sustainability. The problem addressed by this study was that senior academic leadership attrition is prevalent, particularly, among for-profit, private career colleges. If the problem of senior academic leadership attrition is not addressed, students, faculty, and staff of these institutions could be impacted negatively. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of senior academic leadership attrition and how their attrition impacted the institutional sustainability of for-profit, private career colleges. A purposeful sampling technique was utilized to recruit former senior academic leaders of for-profit, private career colleges located in the United States as participants for this research study. A semi-structured, individual interview protocol was utilized for data collection. The push-pull career movement theory guided this research study to understand participants' lived experiences and identify comparable or dissimilar perceptions of leadership in the context of for-profit, private career colleges. The findings revealed a diverse set of leadership styles among the sample population. The findings also identified frequent ownership and corporate leadership changes, the absence of quality corporate-level leadership, and the lack of transparency regarding strategic planning as contributors to instability among for-profit, private career colleges. The absence of work-life balance was determined to be the leading factor in the decision to resign from a senior academic leadership position. Collectively, these findings can be applied to guide improvements in institutional culture and enhancements to onboarding mechanisms and supports for new senior academic leaders of for-profit, private career colleges. A similar study focused on females who previously served as senior academic leaders of for-profit, private career colleges is recommended and likely to present additional perspectives on leadership styles, institutional sustainability, and leadership attrition within the sector. Additionally, a quantitative study is recommended to further investigate a relationship between self-efficacy and job satisfaction relative to the senior academic leadership role. [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.]