The purpose of the study was to understand how faculty and counselors perceive student persistence, retention, and college readiness in relation to student academic success. The qualitative approach was utilized to obtain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of the participants. Purposeful sampling was utilized to select faculty and counselors who instruct and counsel students attending developmental classes. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to collect and analyze the lived experiences of research subjects. Participants were developmental faculty and counselors with over three years of experience in the respective field of work from two selected universities in Mississippi, identified for this study as University A and University B. The emergent themes were self-sufficiency, communication skills, learning strategies, reading, and writing skills, mathematical skills, emotional intelligence, social growth, financial strategies, student support, developmental education, and increasing college readiness. Findings suggest that a great number of students entering college are considered to be underprepared, lacking academic skills assumed to be mastered before entering college course level work, and/or lacking personal skills needed to socialize and behave accordingly to the demanding individual independence required for college. [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.]