Chapter 14: Solving Undergraduate Retention Through Mentoring: A Case Study

While in recent years there has been a significant upswing in the number of first generation and underserved minority students that have been admitted to colleges and universities in the United States, there continues to be a gap between the academic performance and retention of these students when compared to other students (Engstrom & Tinto, 2008; Strayhorn, 2006). The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2009, only 55% of first-generation students at public institutions graduated within 6 years. Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, and Hayek (2006) report that only about 56% of first-year, minority students graduate within that same time. Research also indicates that first-generation students are more likely to leave 4-year institutions at the end of their first year and are less likely to continue with 4-year programs or graduate on time (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). When it comes to STEM fields, these students are underrepresented and have lower persistence rates than their peers across the board (Palmer, Maramba, & Dancy, 2011). In this chapter, we make the case for adding mentoring to existing retention efforts and use a large-scale mentoring program for new students as a case study to explore key decisions and unanticipated challenges in the development of formal mentoring programs.