Acknowledging that one of the most difficult challenges postsecondary educators must face is the maintenance of adequate student enrollment, this paper describes the creation of a speech communication laboratory as one component of a university-wide effort to maximize student retention. The paper first discusses several suggestions researchers have made to enhance student retention in college, then describes the creation of the laboratory. This description includes the laboratory objectives, the faculty involved, and the planning and procedures. Next, the paper describes the procedures for assessing communication apprehensive students in order to plan the appropriate lab services, and gives the results of the assessment questionnaire. The paper concludes with a description of the first year of laboratory operation, and some recommendations for improvement in the operation based on its first-year experience. (HTH)