Every institution has crime that occurs on campus. How this crime affects the student experience has been rarely explored, especially in relation to student retention. Not having this information makes it difficult for administrators to understand what relationship on-campus crime could have with student retention. This examination aims to yield useful information about how on-campus crime can negatively or positively affect student retention at institutions of higher education in the United States that receive Title IV funding. Through this quantitative study, information about 5,399 institutions was analyzed for 2008-2017 to explore the relationship between on-campus crime and student retention. In addition, institutional demographics were used as a second independent variable to further analyze the relationship. Key findings included a positive correlation between on-campus crime and student retention with no difference noted when data was disaggregated across four institutional demographic variables. This positive correlation is statistically significant but not as meaningful due to a low effect size, along with other factors related to students' perceptions of crime. [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.]