ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a review of the literature relative to retention issues for minority students in higher education. It provides a brief history of the development of a Multicultural Center, which led to the development of a five-year retention model for a mid-size northwestern university. The newly focused Multicultural Student Service’s primary purpose is to provide services and programs that help students of color apply to the university, meet new friends, succeed in classes, and graduate. The university should seek to develop a university-wide approach whose ultimate goal is to increase the retention and graduation rates of multicultural students so that they equal or exceed that of majority students at the university. The university is committed to developing, implementing, and assessing a five-year plan to improve the retention and graduation rates of multicultural students. The Multicultural Retention Strategy is designed to provide structure.
