This study examined the academic, social, and institutional variables impacting the persistence and attrition rates of Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOP&S) students at Long Beach City College (LBCC) in California during the fall 1997 and spring 1998 semesters. EOP&S was a state-funded program to provide retention services to community college students across California who were identified as low-income and educationally disadvantaged. LBCC ranked fourth in California as the largest EOP&S program, serving 1,900 at-risk community college students. This study examined first-year students with less than 30 semester units in the EOP&S program. A total of 367 student files, 117 surveys, and 14 students' responses from 3 focus group sessions were analyzed. The study reaffirmed that involving students with the college academically helped increase student persistence rates; however, the result of the study did not substantially support that involving students with the college socially would have the same effect. The study provided a student success model for practitioners on how to integrate students more with the college environment. It also proposed intervention strategies for assisting at-risk students to succeed in higher education. (Contains 47 references.) (GC)