Study Finds Problems With Programs Linking College Mentors and Youths

By Meg Sommerfeld

Mentoring programs that link college students with at-risk youths need to become highly structured and provide greater staff support in order to be more effective, a report released last week concludes.

In a study of mentoring programs at six colleges and universities, Public/Private Ventures, a private, nonprofit research organization, found that only about 45 percent of the matches resulted in successful relationships. The linkages were measured by the youths' satisfaction with their mentors, the duration of the relationships, and the youths' desire for them to continue.

The attendance rates of the college students participating in the programs also varied widely, ranging from 35...