ABSTRACTCAROLYN VINAL SALANGER. Low-Income Community College Student Perceptions of Faculty Interaction in Online Courses. (Under the direction of DR. LISA R. MERRIWEATHER)The purpose of this survey design research study was to understand student perceptions of online interactions with instructors in online courses in the spring, 2020 and determine if any differences exist in perceptions presented when taking into account Pell-eligibility. This study took place at a medium-sized community college within the North Carolina Community College System. Data was obtained through an online survey. The chi square test and logistic regression were used to analyze the quantitative data. This study revealed that students in this particular term were favorable when it came to online interactions and contrary to my hypothesis, I found that a student's perceptions were not significantly influenced by their Pell status; which can be interpreted that the experiences were not vastly different for lower-income students. Qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions found three significant themes with regard to their perceptions of the differences they experienced in online versus face-to-face interactions: response time, "seeing" and "hearing" the instructor, and instructor attributes. Implications for practice and recommendations are offered. Keywords: community college, Pell-eligibility, online instruction, faculty-student interactions