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The purpose of this research is to quantify the general beliefs of African-American males currently enrolled in college regarding selected factors that may have a substantial impact on their retention in college and persistence toward graduation. The factors selected were secondary preparation, institutional social adjustment programs, personal support from faculty and staff, academic support, parental expectations and involvement, financial aid, economic return on investment, and extracurricular activities. These factors were selected by the researcher because they were salient themes in research by previous researchers such as Robertson (2008), Eaves (2009), Freemen (2005), Harper (2012), Valbrun (2011) and many others. The researcher gathered quantitative data using an instrument the researcher designed with the assistance of the dissertation committee from 605 participants from five 4-year higher-education institutions. Of the five 4-year institutions used by the researcher 2 were private Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs), 2 were public Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), and another was a private research based PWI. The researcher classified the data collected by academic classification and the institution the participant