In an effort to learn more about the factors that affect persistence in the community
college environment, this study was designed to explore the effect of friendship on the
educational goals and decisions of community college students. Four measures of student’s
friendships were tested in a series of logistic regression analyses. Findings suggest that the
opinions of friends matter more to community college students’ academic choices than do
friends’ proximity and shared experiences. Moreover, social integration might be more important
to the persistence of married students than unmarried students. Implications for theory and
practice are discussed