A representative sample of first-time, full-time freshmen attending 17 Kansas community colleges in fall 1985 were tracked through spring 1990. Eight separate surveys were mailed to between 50 and 100 freshmen at each college, receiving a final response rate of 82.8%. Study findings included the following: (1) 71% of the respondents who initially planned to transfer had accomplished that goal by 1990, with 27.2% of the transfers attending other Kansas community colleges, 20.8% attending out-of-state colleges, and 88.7% attending Kansas four-year colleges or universities; (2) although the majority of respondents remained full-time students and earned a certificate or degree by spring 1990, the persistence and certificate/degree attainment rate of respondents from Johnson County Community College (JCCC), the largest community college in Kansas in an affluent suburb of Kansas City, was surprisingly much lower than respondents from other Kansas community colleges; (3) the greatest percentage of JCCC respondents who provided reasons for not attaining their educational objective indicated that they had either lost interest of were still working on it; (4) the majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with both their overall experience and their educational achievements; and (5) verbatim survey responses indicated the need for better preparation of transfer students for the substantial increase in pressure and expectations at four-year institutions; and the students' need for more assistance in developing satisfying, comfortable social lives within the community college setting. To address these concerns, several initiatives have been implemented at JCCC such as increasing the number of student activities on campus and bringing university personnel to community college campuses to provide insight and advice to potential transfer students. Contains 16 references. (KP)