Marginalized college students are retained at disproportional rates than their counterparts. A major factor of retention is student engagement in the classroom, which can be impacted by course design and instruction. Critical pedagogy aims to value all students' experiences through six elements of course design and instruction: decreasing teacher power, student self-reflection, dialogue, student voice, critical analysis, and action. This study analyzes marginalized student response to critical pedagogy. A University 101 course, designed to assist in retention, was instructed over a fifteen week semester at a large land-grant university. The course was exclusively reserved for students eligible for the TRiO federal programs; TRiO aims to assist in retaining low-income, first-generation, or students with a disability. The results indicate a positive response by marginalized students to critical pedagogy. Five themes emerged from the data: Students. Response to the Course Design; Students. Response to the Action Research Project; Students. Response to Knowing Classmates; Students. Response to Specific Instructor Attributes; Students. Response to Other Courses. These results suggest further avenues to gain insight into the impact of critical pedagogy and marginalized student retention. The study's conclusions indicate marginalized students must be included, as a collaborator in classroom, to demonstrate their value to the institution. Furthermore, a point is raised about the power of the university structure in contributing to low retention rates among this demographic, and how the structure must change in order increase retention rates. [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.]