Since 1983, Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) has invested resources in a comprehensive matriculation program to help students achieve their educational objectives. In each of the 6 subsequent years, the college has added components to its matriculation program and refined others. An evaluation of the program was conducted in 1989, comparing students who entered SBCC for the first time in fall 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 on the basis of their academic persistence, units completed with passing grades, scores on assessment tests, probationary status, and other measures of progress over a 2-year period. Major findings of the evaluation were as follows: (1) first-to-second semester persistence rates increased by 17.7% from 1983 to 1988; (2) the persistence rates of first-time-in-college students were substantially higher than those of students who transferred to SBCC from another college; (3) of matriculated students who enrolled at SBCC for three consecutive semesters, close to 90% returned for a fourth semester; (4) in 1988, the first-to-second semester persistence rate of transfer-oriented students (76%) was substantially greater than that of non-transfer-oriented students (65%); (5) semester-to-semester persistence rates among ethnic groups were fairly comparable between 1985 and 1988; and (6) course completion and college persistence rates were substantially higher for day students and full-time students than for evening students and part-time students. (JMC)