In an effort to determine success in retaining students through the successful completion of their educational goals, Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) conducted a study of student outcomes for fall 1994. The study focused on six measurements: fall 1993-94 retention, successful course completion, the effect of mid-semester progress reports sent to students, retention to goal attainment, Student Right to Know longitudinal retention rates, and a survey of 307 of 1,200 students who did not return after fall 1993. Study findings included the following: (1) NMC's full-time retention rate for fall 1993-94 was 55%; (2) fall 1994 students had a successful course completion rate of 81.3%; (3) the highest fall retention rate was in Health Occupations at 97.0%, while the lowest was in the Science and Math Division with 71.9%; (4) of the students notified at mid-semester that their performance was less than satisfactory, 42% were successful by the end of the semester; (5) retention rates by student goals were 72.7% for students whose goal was to advance in a job, 81.8% for those seeking to get a new job, 84.2% for those seeking transfer, and 85.6% for those reporting no goal; (6) for first-time, full-time students beginning in fall 1994, the retention rate through spring 1995 was 83.9%; (7) for non-returning students, 64% of respondents planned on returning the next semester, 17% were undecided, and 19% planned not to return; and (8) top reasons for not returning were conflict between job and college (43.3%), wanting a break (30.3%), unexpected expenses (24.5%), full-time work (24.1%), and family responsibilities (23.2%). (Contains six graphs/tables.) (KP)