Writing a comprehensive review of research on student persistence is a Herculean task. The publications that feature persistence as a primary outcome measure are almost innumerable. Moreover, literature reviews of persistence research have been published periodically in the higher education literature. The author uses these existing reviews as the foundation for this article. Beside his own previous review (Reason, 2003), the author draws heavily upon reviews by Tinto (2006-2007) and Pascarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005), as well as the many scholarly and empirical works by Braxton. He supplements these secondary sources by incorporating persistence research published more recently. By using Terenzini and Reason's framework to organize the following discussion, this review offers scholars and practitioners a comprehensive, integrated conception of the forces that shape college student persistence. Further, the framework allows for a more complete explication and examination of the interactions between the person and college environments, a theme that runs throughout the articles in this special edition. (Contains 1 figure.)