This study examines how interactions with institutional agents (faculty and academic counselors) and select student support programs influence success (i.e., grade point average) and intentions to persist to degree completion for Latino/a community college students. Using social capital theory and college impact models, the study controls for the effects of select pre-college student characteristics, transition-to-college experiences, and academic and social factors. Findings indicate that interactions (quantity and type) with institutional agents exercise a small, but significant effect on Latino/a students’ success. Similarly, participation in an academically rigorous program and a counseling-intensive support program influences students’ success and intent to persist. Implications for practice are addressed.

The perceived impact of mattering is quite accepted in higher education yet has not been well measured with diverse college students. This article describes the development and validation of the College Mattering Inventory with community college and university students. Results and implications for faculty and student affairs professionals are discussed.

Using a diverse sample of university students, this article describes outcomes of a confirmatory factor analysis and a group invariance analysis conducted to validate the factorial structure of the Sense of Belonging Scales. Accordingly, a modified factor structure departing significantly from that of the original authors is proposed.Keywords sense of belonging, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, college students, matteringWith the ever-increasing emphasis on accountability, graduation, and student learning outcomes at institutions of higher education throughout the United States, colleges and universities continue to focus much of their efforts on how to best retain their students. Although the vast majority of students are likely to drop out during the first year of college (Tinto, 1993), college dropout and stopout occurs across the college years. Recent statistics compiled by American College Testing, Inc. (2009) clearly demonstrate the scope of the problem, particularly by institutional type. American College Testing's 2009 national statistics indicate that the first-year to secondyear persistence rates in the United States ranged from a low of 53.7% for 2-year public colleges to a high of 80.6% for private PhDgranting institutions. On average, 34.1% of freshmen students did not persist to their second year of college. With respect to graduation rates, these figures fair worse. The average 5-year national graduation rate reported was 38.4% for master's-granting, public universities, whereas it was 65.1% for PhDgranting, private universities. Research also indicates that these statistics are significantly lower for African American and Latino students, compared with White or Asian American students (Swail, Redd, & Perna, 2003).Over the past four decades of research, the higher education community has learned much about the scope of the problem of college student attrition and the student populations most affected. Numerous theoretical frameworks have been proposed to explain the phenome-

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The number of minority, particularly Latino, students attending community colleges is on the rise in the United States. Such students frequently lack academic preparation and financial resources. These difficulties, when added to family obligations, often require that minority students attend institutions that offer the most flexible arrangements-typically, community colleges. Due to these issues, however, their successful transition to community college may be difficult. The authors found that up to 35% of first-time freshmen-with a disproportionate number of Latinosare on probation after their first semester at a large, urban, public community college. The authors developed and instituted a probationary student re-orientation program to both assist these students and understand how their background characteristics and perceptions of the college environment impacted their academic standing. Using Schlossberg's transition theory as our theoretical framework, this study assessed how students of different ethnicities differed along reported levels of academic motivation, general coping, and receptivity to support services. Results suggest that Latinos are more likely to experience academic difficulties, are more