Community College Research Initiatives

December 29, 2023

Bridging the Rural Mentorship Gap: A Data Note on Mentorship Programs in Rural Community Colleges

A recent data note, the first in a series, published by the Community College Research Initiatives and generously funded by the Ascendium Education Group as part of its Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success initiative, examines mentorship programs at public 2-year rural-serving institutions (RSIs). Using institutional website data, it explores the prevalence, distribution, and focus of mentorship programs, shedding light on who these programs serve and the variations across states.

The findings highlight an asymmetry in the distribution and location of mentorship programs across 444 public 2-year RSIs. While 301 of the 444 RSIs had at least one mentorship program, the number of programs ranged from one to eight per institution. A large proportion of mentorship programs lacked an explicit focus on underrepresented student groups. Approximately 3 out of 10 programs (29%) explicitly targeted low-income students, and 10 percent of programs targeted specific racial/ethnic student groups in their program descriptions. The analysis also found that many website descriptions did not provide clear information on who was providing the mentoring and how mentorship was defined.

These findings inform our future questions:

  1. Mentorship: How is mentorship defined, and who is providing the mentoring? What structures are embedded within mentorship programs that support the success of rural community college students?
  2. Rural Student Experience: How do mentorship programs impact the academic and career outcomes of rural community college students?
  3. Intersectionality: How do mentorship experiences align with rural students’ evolving needs and intersectional identities, including low-income and racially minoritized students?
  4. Best Practices: What best practices can be identified to inform mentoring models that are adaptable and tailored across institutions to support the success of rural community college students? How can programs better cater to the unique needs of students residing in rural communities? How does rurality play a role in program design and implementation?

In the next phase of this research, CCRI is exploring these questions through in-depth interviews with staff and student support practitioners, focus groups with students, and a national student survey. The “Landscape of Mentorship Programs at Rural Serving Community Colleges” data note serves as a starting point for understanding the availability of mentorship programs across public 2-year RSIs. As this research progresses, the insights this work provides will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of mentorship in rural settings, guide the development of inclusive and effective mentorship programs for rural students, and work towards bridging critical gaps in serving historically underserved students at RSIs.