THE ROLE OF MENTORING IN COLLEGE ACCESS AND SUCCESS

THE ROLE OF MENTORING IN COLLEGE ACCESS AND SUCCESS

Given the urgent need to increase access to and success in college for all students, this Research to Practice brief distills and synthesizes scholarly research specifically as it pertains to the role of mentoring to promote college access and success, featuring an interview with the leadership of Philadelphia-Futures’ Sponsor-A-Scholar program.

Increasing the number of college students who graduate prepared for participation in the workforce and civil society will require a redoubling of efforts to improve college–going and completion rates for students traditionally underrepresented by higher education— individuals from low-income backgrounds and young people of color, who currently earn degrees at much lower rates than other groups (NCES 2010; Mortenson 2009). Given the urgent need to increase the success of underrepresented
students in college, individuals from college access programs, youth development organizations, and advocacy groups, along with K–12 and higher education leaders, have an important role to play. Practitioners from college access programs and youth development.