“The work I do does matter”: a graduate student mentor’s experiences with first-generation students in a Title V student center

First-generation college students are often underserved by the university system, which results in approximately 33% of first-generation students leaving the university within the first three years. Mentorship can serve as a way to retain more first-generation students. This descriptive case study examined how a mentor viewed her role across four social dimensions: activity building, identity building, world building, and connection building. The mentor felt that she was able to utilize her own identity as a first-generation student in order to connect to the students she mentored, and, when given agency, she offered students support and a sense of belonging. These findings are significant for mentor training programs meant to support first-generation students, because they offer important implications of mentoring programs for first-generation and/or minoritized students at universities. Therefore, improving mentoring programs is one way universities can help retain their first-generation college students and encourage others to pursue mentorship.