Degree completion rates among undergraduate students majoring in the geosciences have significantly lagged behind completion rates of all STEM undergraduates. Due to the predicted shortage of geoscientists in the workforce, coupled with recent calls for broadened participation in the geosciences in terms of race and gender, addressing the issue of degree completion is prudent. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) Geoscience Education Research (GER) community framework is focused on interventions tuned to the individual within a complex system as a means to address contemporary challenges on access to and success in the geosciences. This study uses higher education/workforce participation paradigms to investigate student success metrics. Special attention is given to the potential interconnectedness and feedback mechanisms within student-centric and institutional-centric social systems, and the enabling structures and/or recurring barriers within geoscience academia impacting students from underrepresented groups. Preliminary results include basic trends across paradigm analysis. Implications are discussed in terms of methods to support students from underrepresented groups in the geosciences.