Based on Social Identity Theory, this study contributes to the understanding of how the attachment felt by students to their university (called here institutional attachment) works as a crucial factor in promoting their life satisfaction and decreasing their dropout intentions. The study aimed to investigate the relations between students' satisfaction with the quality of higher education, their dropout intention and their satisfaction with life while examining the influence of institutional attachment as a mediator. The research was designed as a cross-sectional study comprising undergraduate students (N = 457) enrolled in social science programmes at a mid-sized university in Western Romania. The analysis of the data, conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM), revealed that institutional attachment was a significant predictor of life satisfaction among university students and had a central role in academic persistence, by mediating the relationship between satisfaction with higher education and dropout intention. The results of the study advance the literature on student dropout and elucidate some of the strategies that could help in promoting academic persistence and increasing student success and satisfaction.