The study builds on the assumption, drawn from existing theory, that institutional behaviors at public 2-year colleges can impact college student retention rates. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore how institutions allocated resources in the areas of instruction, academic support, and student services and assess whether the relationship between these expenditures and retention was consistent with previous research conducted on public and private 4-year colleges. Data were gathered from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) as provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2012-13 academic year, the 2013 American Community Survey as provided by the United Stated Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics database for 2013. All public 2-year and public 4-year colleges in the contiguous United States that completed the IPEDS survey were included in the population and analysis.Using multiple regression analysis, controlling for percentage of fulltime enrollment, percentage of fulltime faculty, poverty rates, and crime rates, the study found that institutional expenditures for instruction, academic support, and student services were not good predictors of college student retention rates at public 2-year colleges, especially when other important environmental characteristics were controlled. According to the findings, statistically significant relationships did exist between retention and expenditures for instruction and student services, though neither presented a numerically significant R-squared value. Instead, poverty rates and crime rates were discovered to be the strongest predictor of college student retention for public 2-year colleges. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and recommendations proposed.