What influence does mentorship

have on first generation college

students in their academic
performance?

By: Esmeralda Peredia Lizarraga, Helen Mora, & Alejandro

Cisneros
Original Research Question
● As a group, all of us being first generation college students, we knew that we
wanted to create our research based on first generation students.
● As we were deciding on potential research questions, we came up with “what
are the motivational factors that influence first generation college students in
their academic performance?”
● We knew that there would be multiple motivational factors, so we turned to
academic scholarly articles to help us better define our final research question
in order to help CSUDH better support their students.
 Blackwell’s and Pinder’s work showed us how first

generation students, “achieved their goals of changing

their lives through education. They broke away from their

How we came up with family histories and graduated from college” (Blackwell
our defined research and Pinder). In addition, we learned that, “parental

question support was a strong influence in the background of each

of the participants” (Blackwell and Pinder).By having this

information, we were able to have a better understanding

of why our topic was important. For this reason, we

transformed our topic into a better defined research

question to show the importance that mentorship has

Source:
What are the motivational factors of first-generation minority college students who overcome their family histories to
first generation college students.
pursue higher education?” by Edith Blackwell and Patrice Juliet Pinder
Why CSUDH should consider our research question

● We believe that our question and our study will help the university better understand

what programs they can implement for first generation college students attending

CSUDH.

● Our study can show CSUDH which programs they should promote to first generation

college students better when they are entering CSUDH.

CSUDH had 54.1% first
generation college
students enrolled as of
2017
https://www.csudh.edu/Assets/csudh-sites/gsr/doc
s/Annual-Report/Institutional%20Information_abo
ut%20CSUDH_general_2018%20July.pdf
Method of Data Collection

● We created a survey for students of CSUDH to complete easily

○ We believed a survey would be the most effective way to answer our questions

○ Analyzing our data would be easier if we conducted surveys instead of in-person

interviews.
Survey Questions
● We first asked students if they had a mentor and to rate their relationship
○ We started off with this question to guide the direction of the survey
● Then we asked how long their relationship with their mentor lasted
○ This helped us transition to our more specific questions
● Our third question listed programs that offered the opportunity for mentorships and
asked students if they’d participated in any of them
○ We did this to see what, if any, programs students had used in the past
Survey Questions (Cont.)
● Our fourth question asked how important they found their relationship with their
mentors to the college experience
○ We did this to see if students felt that having a mentor had an effect on how well they did
in college
● Finally we asked the nature of the mentorship (academic, personal, professional, or
other)
Results from Surveys

● 60.2% of students were first generation

● 57.6% said they didn’t have any kind of mentor, and 28.8% of students said that one of their

parents was their mentor

○ The rest of the students said their mentors were a variety of people

● 88% of students with a mentor said their relationship lasted over a year
Results from Surveys
Results from Surveys (Cont.)
Results from Surveys (Cont.)

● 30.5% of students said their relationship with their mentor was academic, 34.7% said it was personal.

● 58.5 % of students said they didn’t participate in any program that offered a mentorship.

○ Most popular programs were Encounter to Excellence (16.9%), Summer Bridge (16.1%), General

Academic Advising (16.9%) and First-Year Experience (16.9%).

● The majority of students said that having a mentor was very important to their academic journey.

● Students who said they had a mentor were more likely to do well in school
What This Means

● Most students believe having a mentor is important

○ It’s especially vital for first generation students to have a mentor to help guide them
through college, since their parents can’t guide them through college
○ However, a lot of students don’t have a mentor and don’t seem to know where to
find one
● The programs students use the most are mandatory
○ E.g. general academic advising
Recommendations for CSUDH
● Mandatory programs that offer mentor ships for all Freshmans and transfer students.
● Create more awareness for CSUDH programs
● Huge event on first day of school to promote programs
● Testimonies of Alumnis who benefited from the programs
● Incentives to attract more traffic for students
● Compare academic performance with students that have had a mentor in their
Conclusion
● Increase retention rate for CSUDH students.
● Inform FGCS for future purposes
● Increase graduation rate
● Improve CSUDH status.
Original Research Question
● As a group, all of us being first generation college students, we knew that we
wanted to create our research based on first generation students.
● As we were deciding on potential research questions, we came up with “what
are the motivational factors that influence first generation college students in
their academic performance?”
● We knew that there would be multiple motivational factors, so we turned to
academic scholarly articles to help us better define our final research question
in order to help CSUDH better support their students.
 Blackwell’s and Pinder’s work showed us how first

generation students, “achieved their goals of changing

their lives through education. They broke away from their

How we came up with family histories and graduated from college” (Blackwell
our defined research and Pinder). In addition, we learned that, “parental

question support was a strong influence in the background of each

of the participants” (Blackwell and Pinder).By having this

information, we were able to have a better understanding

of why our topic was important. For this reason, we

transformed our topic into a better defined research

question to show the importance that mentorship has

Source:
What are the motivational factors of first-generation minority college students who overcome their family histories to
first generation college students.
pursue higher education?” by Edith Blackwell and Patrice Juliet Pinder
Why CSUDH should consider our research question

● We believe that our question and our study will help the university better understand

what programs they can implement for first generation college students attending

CSUDH.

● Our study can show CSUDH which programs they should promote to first generation

college students better when they are entering CSUDH.

CSUDH had 54.1% first
generation college
students enrolled as of
2017
https://www.csudh.edu/Assets/csudh-sites/gsr/doc
s/Annual-Report/Institutional%20Information_abo
ut%20CSUDH_general_2018%20July.pdf
Method of Data Collection

● We created a survey for students of CSUDH to complete easily

○ We believed a survey would be the most effective way to answer our questions

○ Analyzing our data would be easier if we conducted surveys instead of in-person

interviews.
Survey Questions
● We first asked students if they had a mentor and to rate their relationship
○ We started off with this question to guide the direction of the survey
● Then we asked how long their relationship with their mentor lasted
○ This helped us transition to our more specific questions
● Our third question listed programs that offered the opportunity for mentorships and
asked students if they’d participated in any of them
○ We did this to see what, if any, programs students had used in the past
Survey Questions (Cont.)
● Our fourth question asked how important they found their relationship with their
mentors to the college experience
○ We did this to see if students felt that having a mentor had an effect on how well they did
in college
● Finally we asked the nature of the mentorship (academic, personal, professional, or
other)
Results from Surveys

● 60.2% of students were first generation

● 57.6% said they didn’t have any kind of mentor, and 28.8% of students said that one of their

parents was their mentor

○ The rest of the students said their mentors were a variety of people

● 88% of students with a mentor said their relationship lasted over a year
Results from Surveys
Results from Surveys (Cont.)
Results from Surveys (Cont.)

● 30.5% of students said their relationship with their mentor was academic, 34.7% said it was personal.

● 58.5 % of students said they didn’t participate in any program that offered a mentorship.

○ Most popular programs were Encounter to Excellence (16.9%), Summer Bridge (16.1%), General

Academic Advising (16.9%) and First-Year Experience (16.9%).

● The majority of students said that having a mentor was very important to their academic journey.

● Students who said they had a mentor were more likely to do well in school
What This Means

● Most students believe having a mentor is important

○ It’s especially vital for first generation students to have a mentor to help guide them
through college, since their parents can’t guide them through college
○ However, a lot of students don’t have a mentor and don’t seem to know where to
find one
● The programs students use the most are mandatory
○ E.g. general academic advising
Recommendations for CSUDH
● Mandatory programs that offer mentor ships for all Freshmans and transfer students.
● Create more awareness for CSUDH programs
● Huge event on first day of school to promote programs
● Testimonies of Alumnis who benefited from the programs
● Incentives to attract more traffic for students
● Compare academic performance with students that have had a mentor in their
Conclusion
● Increase retention rate for CSUDH students.
● Inform FGCS for future purposes
● Increase graduation rate
● Improve CSUDH status.