Community colleges serve as critical access points for Latina/o students, yet their retention and attainment rates remain lower than other racial/ethnic groups. While financial constraints and competing responsibilities contribute to these disparities, institutional factors, such as lack of support and outreach further impact retention. Non-instructional support staff play a crucial role, yet their perspectives are often overlooked. Additionally, Latina/o students are frequently treated as a monolith, ignoring subgroup differences and geographical contexts. This quantitative ethnographic study investigates Latina/o student retention through a cultural ecological lens at an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution in the Northeast. Data collection included field notes, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with students (n = 15) and staff (n = 15), analyzed using qualitative thematic coding and Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Qualitative analysis revealed shared and divergent perspectives across psychosocial, institutional and external factors. Staff centered culture and sense of community but were less attuned to students’ mental health needs. Institutionally, staff emphasized servingness (how staff support students), while students focused on culture and sociopolitical influences. ENA found significant difference between student and staff perceptions of institutional and external influences (U = 13.00, p < 0.001, r = 0.88), suggesting greater misalignment than in psychosocial factors (U = 22.00, r = 0.80). Subgroup findings demonstrated that Latina/o staff, primarily of Caribbean heritage, viewed shared culture as enhancing student self-efficacy, while student perspectives varied by academic status. Students on academic probation relied on goal-oriented traits to strengthen their self-efficacy, whereas non-probation students associated culture with sense of community. Geographic context shaped retention perceptions. Suburban residents indicated low integration, with staff citing structural limitations. Students’ hemispheric heritage influenced priorities—North Americans focused on sociopolitical issues and mental health, Caribbean students highlighted cultural solidarity, and South/Central Americans stressed cultural awareness to strengthen sense of community. Findings underscore the need for place-based, subgroup-specific strategies. Institutions must adopt culturally responsive policies rooted in servingness, enhance staff engagement, and implement targeted interventions to bridge gaps between institutional structures and Latina/o students’ lived experiences, fostering retention in community colleges.