This report presents results of a study conducted to obtain information on student retention and attrition at Gainesville Junior College (GJC). After introductory material discusses the college's problems in the areas of recruitment and retention, section I presents findings from a study of 1,053 of the 1,689 students taking course work at GJC in fall 1982. This section describes the racial breakdown of participants (973 white, 63 black, and 17 of other races) and compares the retention rates of the different racial groups. Section II examines the causes of student attrition and includes a description of student characteristics; a discussion of educational attainment of people in the college's service area; an outline of variables related to persistence at the college (e.g., age, test scores, high school and college grade point averages, and academic standing); a breakdown of retention rates by college major; reasons given by respondents for not re-enrolling at GJC in fall 1983; the causes of attrition of "other race" students; and a summary of the causes of student attrition. The contributing factors identified in this section include low educational attainment in the home background; students attending to repair bad grade point averages; the high proportion of part-time students; high dropout rates for black male students and part-time single students; and low admission test scores. Finally, section III summarizes the strategies for improving the student retention rate, including rating students in terms of their likelihood of persistence and monitoring student progress. (HB)