American colleges and universities are agents of individual progress, social change and upward mobility that foster an educated citizenry and a prosperous economic system. The long-term benefits of earning a bachelor's degree are multiple, significant and well documented for graduates, their families and for the public at large. The notion of the American dream as realized through access to and completion of a college degree remains as yet unrealized for some of the most vulnerable and underserved members among us, however. Students from the lowest income quartile, in particular, are most impacted by disparate pathways to and through postsecondary education. Social disparities and structural barriers persist whereby low-income students enroll, persist, and complete college at significantly lower rates than their higher income peers. Federal, state and institution-based legislation, policies and programs have reduced some of the systematic obstructions, but the gap between high- and low-income college student completion has widened, nationally. These kinds of social disparities and structural barriers continue to remain a focus of social work advocacy for social change, particularly regarding changes in social welfare policy related to equity in higher education. At one public university, however, low-income students graduate at higher rates than the general student population. This study focused on low-income college persistence and degree completion attending this public university. In particular, this study examined the impact of students' sense of academic and interpersonal validation and their sense of belonging on their persistence and completion rates. Results indicate that there are not significant differences in the prediction of validation on college persistence or completion among students who received a Pell grant, those enrolled in educational opportunity programs and non-Pell students when controlling for certain characteristics; academic and interpersonal validation remained relatively high among all groups. In some models, sense of belonging was a significant predictor of students' intent to persist. Results also demonstrated that significant difference of persistence and completion also exist by race, GPA and gender. These results confirm prior research on underrepresented students. Implications for social welfare policy and social work practice are discussed. [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.]