College Mentoring Supports College Enrollment and Persistence

Produced by the Center for Poverty Research at UC Davis, this policy brief compares different interventions focused on increasing college enrollment for high school seniors. Research indicates students involved in a mentoring program are statistically more likely to enroll in college than both the control group and groups receiving assistance without personal mentoring. Women were most positively affected. Students who had not taken the SAT, or who did not have parent or counselor support, also positively benefitted. And, students were just as likely to persist in college as students in the control group who had enrolled, indicating any disadvantages before mentorship did not affect them once they got to college. This study refutes previous research by showing the importance of intensive, face-to-face mentoring for students above less-personalized methods.