For first-year students, a sense of belonging is crucial to starting their educational journey strong, establishing ties to the university community, and ultimately succeeding at their goals.
Lack of belonging can be most pronounced during transition; therefore, new students in new environments may find their sense of belonging at its lowest. Between the jump from secondary to tertiary education, being away from home for possibly the first time, and grappling with forging new social connections, many things can cause uncertainty for learners.
So how can institutions tackle the challenge of planting the seeds of belonging early on and then cultivating them intentionally during that first year? For Indiana University, Bloomington (IU Bloomington), peer mentorship has been a part of their student success toolbox. Not only has it helped them make huge strides with their first-year students, but they’ve discovered how it can be leveraged to serve other pockets of the student body.
In March 2024, Mentor Collective hosted a webinar with IU Bloomington’s Vice Provost of Enrollment Management, Dr. David B. Johnson, and Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Retention, Sarah Booher, to discuss the impact of offering peer mentorship to incoming freshmen and transfer students.
IU Bloomington initially partnered with Mentor Collective in 2019 to enrich the large cohort of students receiving scholarships (around 50% of incoming students). The Hoosiers Scholars program used mentorship with Mentor Collective as a conduit to connect students to peers and resources on campus and has grown by 50 percent since its kick-off in 2020. Its success in student engagement, belonging, and retention has prompted the leadership to expand mentorship to all incoming first-year and transfer students.
Watch the Full Webinar On-Demand and Read Key Takeaways from the Discussion Below
For IU Bloomington, sense of belonging is far too important to wait until students have been on campus for a few months or weeks. It has to be established at the very beginning of their journey, even as soon as it's known they’ll be attending the institution.
IU Bloomington found that building peer mentorship relationships early gives students people to lean on when they first arrive. A peer mentor can come in as that first friendly face to help them navigate a new environment, a new chapter in their lives, and what they’ll need to succeed in the institution.
To take this a step further, they leverage Mentor Collective's matching algorithm to match mentees with mentors based on shared aspects of identity, affinity, or life experience. Dr. Johnson states, “The most successful mentor-mentee matches are ones where we have connected students and mentors who have something in common. Whether that is their major, hometown, or scholarship program, they're part of. We have learned that this benefits the outcomes of those matches. Being able to make friends with somebody on campus as you are that new can be an important piece to help foster that sense of belonging.”
For first-year students, sense of belonging sets the tone for their entire institution experience. Not only does it provide social support in a time of great transition, but it also helps them academically and allows them to access the resources they need to thrive. Threading a sense of belonging into the student experience from day one, or even before they arrive on campus, makes a considerable impact and leads to positive outcomes.
Hoosier Scholars participating in Mentor Collective during the 2020-2021 academic year retained at rates two percent higher than non-participants. The effect of offering the mentorship program to IU Bloomington transfer students was most profound on international students (+5 percent) and historically underserved populations (+6 percent), highlighting the importance of mentorship and shared identity within the scope of student success strategies.
“Every single thing a student experiences or doesn't experience on a college campus impacts their persistence. It’s on all of us to make sure we are providing the support, conditions for sense of belonging, tools, and everything needed for students to continue on their path toward graduation.”
– Sarah Booher, Assistant Vice Provost & Executive Director of Retention, IU Bloomington
First-year students aren’t the only new arrivals on campus who would benefit from peer mentorship: Transfer students represent another beginner cohort that often feels the same uncertainties that come with being new at an institution, but with less time to adjust before graduation and an invisible pressure to "have it all figured out". IU Bloomington will expand mentorship to all first-year and transfer students in 2024 due to the impact of the Hoosier Scholars Program.
“One of the conversations that we've been having internally is what do we do with what we've learned?” says Booher. “We're looking at the possibility of a shifted focus or broadening to our whole beginner cohort. “Transfer students have a very tight window of time at our institution. They're coming from different places, they need to be caught up to speed, and they don't have a four-year runway. That is our next area of focus.”
A lack of belonging has a considerable compound effect on a student’s journey on campus. Not only does it affect them socially, but it may also result in disengagement and low academic outcomes and even become a bigger obstacle in their dealings with challenges.
Students who don’t think they belong are more likely not to take advantage of resources and support. They are also more likely to find their adversities on campus insurmountable. Sometimes, the simplest roadblock might become a major hurdle.
“Academics who study a sense of belonging know that when it's present, students are engaged and motivated to continue to graduation is certainly enhanced,” says Johnson. “The absence of a sense of belonging has been shown to have a profound negative effect not just on motivation and academic achievement, but also in the way that students face their adversities on campus and how they see themselves receiving support.”
Having a peer mentorship relationship allows challenges and adversities to be flagged earlier so that they can be mitigated before derailing a student’s progress.
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