A number of sources have focused upon the lower socio-economic category of community college students and their success in completing a four-year college program. Some are pessimistic, claiming that very low percentages of two-year college students ever graduate from four-year college programs, and that most who drop out are from low income groups. Some sources explain these percentages with reference to the "stop out" phenomenon, others refute the contentions. Statistics show that, as of 1968, 49% of all community college students, but only 12.7% of transfer students, came from families with yearly incomes of less than $10,000. If the matrix of educational disadvantages and low educational aspirations can be broken by an educational institution, then the community college is in one of the best positions to do so. However, such an effort requires greater sensitivity on the part of college personnel, and specific programs to address the needs of economically disadvantaged students. One such effort was undertaken at Macomb County Community College. Almost 400 students from lower socio-economic families were placed in a highly structured, but autonomous, program of regular liberal arts courses. They were taught by 14 instructors and took their courses in blocks of time which kept them together as parts of small cohesive groups. The persistence rate of these students was much higher than that of the student body as a whole. (AYC)