Economic development theory focuses on a country's human capital development which is its greatest resource. Human capital development is the empowerment of citizens which comes through education and training. A major player in this process is Community colleges which its mandate is to bridge the skills gap and attend to the academic needs of its immediate environments. Is there a reason why these students do not graduate? Is there anything community colleges can do to prevent students from leaving early? These are important questions that require stakeholders to give their perceptions on this matter. For there to be economic development the government must be integral to this process, not only through legislation of policy but funding as well. When the government invests in human capital through free tuition policy initiatives this is one of the variables that contribute to economic development. However, there are institutional and external factors that can determine how efficacious the policy initiative will be. The objective of any funding tuition policy initiative is to increase enrollment and graduation rates by making education more accessible and equitable. Consequently, two indicators of funding policy initiative success are the increase in enrollments and graduation rates over a period. If the reduction in cost or price of tuition does not give a comparative increase in enrollment then there is an inelastic demand, which means that price or cost of tuition is not the major determinant for enrollment. It is with this in mind that the stakeholders' perceptions will provide clarity to these issues. [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.]