The main purpose of this study was to assess factors affecting students’ retention in Rorya District community secondary schools. This study used a mixed method approach where by both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect and analyze data. A total of 111 respondents were used and 90 students obtained trough simple random sampling while the other 21 respondents were purposively obtained from the 9 community secondary schools within the district. This study identified that, poverty, social cultural affects, long distance to school and lack of motivation, to be the main factors affecting students’ retention in community secondary schools in Rorya district. The study therefore recommend that, there is a need to establish and implement a plan of action in conducting a follow – up on the capacity of schools in retaining students. By concluding, the study calls for increased investment in education, especially for community secondary schools in rural areas like in Rorya district where number of challenges needs immediate solutions. A number of suggest were made for further research: A similar should be done in other parts of Tanzania since the results may not be easily generalized to other parts of Tanzania following the fact that the regions have heterogeneous geo – physical terrain, history and level of economic development to mention but a few.