Retention rates of honors students in experiential learning programs have dropped in recent years as students left these programs at an unprecedented rate -- much to the dismay of administrators (Deka, 2020). Decreased year-to-year retention numbers affect the anticipated growth rates and sustainability of these programs. As current honors students complete the requirements of their programs, reflecting on student satisfaction experienced by high-achieving students can help administrators understand the correlation between a sense of belonging and retention. The purpose of this study was to identify the role of student satisfaction, and in particular student perceptions of a sense of belonging, in the persistence to graduation of honors students involved in an honors college at a public four-year university in the southwestern region of the United States. This study utilized quantitative methods through a cross-sectional survey and collected information from respondents in the early Fall 2024 semester through a collection of surveys based on a sense of belonging measure. The data were evaluated with a multiple regression model to predict student's intent to persist to honors degree completion based on n = 189 responses from the Need to Belong Scale, a General Belonging Scale, and Sense of Community Index-2 (Chavis et al., 2008; Leary et al., 2013; Malone et al., 2012). The data analysis revealed that the Sense of Community Index-2 was the best indicator of persistence. The results from this study demonstrate a need to implement data-driven practices to best serve students by supporting their intent to persist to honors degree completion. [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.]