In recent years, community colleges have come into the spotlight nationally in terms of their potential to assist in the revitalization of the economy. This has resulted in an increased need for community colleges to understand more fully the factors that influence student persistence. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate how participating in a student success course is related to student academic progress and persistence. The unit of analysis for this research was first-time full-time degree-seeking students who entered a midwestern community college in fall semesters 2011 or 2012. This study examined the relationships between student demographics such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity, as well as characteristics such as Pell grant eligibility, first-generation status, COMPASS cut scores, developmental education courses, and the student success course, and their academic progress and persistence to the subsequent spring. Academic progress was defined as earning a grade point average of 2.0 or better and completing 67% of credits attempted. The groups were compared using descriptive statistics of frequencies and cross-tabulations. This study employed hierarchical regression analyses to investigate what variables predict community college student academic progress and persistence. Quantitative analyses revealed that students who successfully completed the student success course have a higher level of academic progress and were more likely to persist than were students who did not participate in the student success course. [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/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]