The completion of developmental community college (DCC) courses is a crucial step in community college education to reach the national goal of increasing college success. DCC students are a unique population who require specific strategies such as vocabulary retention (VR) to achieve academic success. Prior research on vocabulary has been limited to VR and color effects. However, there is a lack of research on the intersection of these two variables (VR and color effects). This quantitative research study used the theoretical lens feature integration theory (FIT) to examine the effects that text color has on VR among DCC students. Additionally, this study included 87 participants between the ages of 18 and 55 who were enrolled in developmental English classes. This study also used the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the color effects (red text, black text, and red and blue text combinations) on VR. The results of this study revealed that there was a significant difference in red text, compared to black text, and red and blue text combinations, respectively. Moreover, the results may assist communities, institutions, and students to save money. Thus, propelling students to move towards the national goal of increasing college success. [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://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]