Community college degree completion has become an issue of growing concern in higher education as a matter of institutional accountability and student necessity. Yet, nationally, data suggest that as degree attainment increases in importance, fewer students are actually completing community college degrees, even though they are attending community colleges in growing numbers. The reality is that community college students face considerable difficulties and barriers on their path to degree completion, and more than half of them are likely never to finish this journey if it begins at a public community college. With increasing calls for accountability in higher education, community colleges are under increasing pressure to assure that access translates into success. For these very reasons, community colleges need to identify factors influencing their students' course completion and degree attainment that can be addressed within the delimited world of the two-year college. Understanding the demographic cohorts within the community college student population and any emerging relationship to persistence and attainment would assist in targeting any process or policy put in place to improve completion. Similarly, understanding student course-taking patterns--their transcript footprints--and any emerging relationship to degree persistence and completion would better define areas for potential curricular intervention. This study examined a first-time-in-college, associate of arts degree-seeking cohort comprised of 1,383 students at a large Florida public community college. Analysis was conducted on this cohort to determine how the emergent factors influenced course completion by students within the study data set. This examination may provide a better sense of demographic and course-related gateways and barriers to eventual degree completion, which can in turn offer a robust framework for further research or policy discussions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]