[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-584260-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-584260-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","community-college-research-initiatives-rural-learner-success-data-note-series-data-note-4-february-2026","COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH INITIATIVES - RURAL LEARNER SUCCESS DATA NOTE SERIES - DATA NOTE 4 - FEBRUARY 2026","","Rural community college students’ perspectives on mentorship are examined to understand how student-reported experiences shape academic persistence, confidence, belonging, and career outcomes. The study addresses how mentorship affects learners’ academic and career plans, especially where access is limited by rural distance, staffing constraints, and competing work and caregiving demands. Survey data from 99 students complements qualitative reflections, highlighting mentorship as a turning point for exploration and support during key transitions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/community-college-research-initiatives-rural-learner-success-data-note-series-data-note-4-february-2026/584260/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/community-college-research-initiatives-rural-learner-success-data-note-series-data-note-4-february-2026/584260.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Kyle","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What guiding question does the study use to examine mentorship?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"How do students feel the mentorship experience at their colleges affects their academic and career outcomes?","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How was the study data collected?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The study uses survey data from 99 students nationwide and integrates it with qualitative reflections from student mentees and mentors.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What does the study focus on regarding mentorship opportunities?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It categorizes mentorship opportunities by focus areas such as career readiness/exploration and financial advising, academic advising, enrollment and transition, and academic success strategies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},584260,1792062077,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":111,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":117,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH INITIATIVES   \nRURAL LEARNER SUCCESS DATA NOTE SERIES  \nRural community college students’perspectives on mentorship and academic and career outcomes  \nJordan A. Reed, Mayra Nu ñez Martinez, Susannah C. Davis, and Lia Wetzstein  \nDATA NOTE 4 | FEBRUARY 2026  \nWhile traditional research often evaluates mentorship through the lens of program design and practitioner perspectives, a more nuanced understanding emerges when the focus shifts to student-reported impacts. By centering student perceptions, researchers can gain vital insight into which specific types of mentorship hold the most value, how these relationships directly influence success, and where critical gaps in support remain. This transition leads to a fundamental guiding question: How do students feel the mentorship experience at their colleges affects their academic and career outcomes? By answering this, institutions can move beyond structural metrics and begin to address the authentic needs and aspirations of the learners themselves.  \nINTRODUCTION  \nMentoring is a high-impact practice that supports students’persistence, confidence, and sense of belonging, particularly for learners navigating systemic inequities (Ballin et al., 2025; Brooms et al., 2021; Brown et al., 2021; Crisp, 2010; Kitchen et al., 2025; Soria & White, 2023) . For rural community college students, however, access to sustained mentoring is often constrained by distance, limited staffing, and the competing demands of work and caregiving (Chandler & Baeta, 2023; Puente, 2022; Rush-Marlowe, 2021; Wells et al., 2019) . While previous research has found that the majority of ruralserving community colleges had at least one mentoring opportunity listed on their college websites (see  Data Note  1), access to rural mentoring remains limited and ruralserving community colleges operate within constrained funding and fewer institutional resources than their urban counterparts. At the same time, rural communities offer distinctive relational strengths, including close-knit networks, reciprocity, and shared experience, that can support meaningful mentoring relationships when programs are intentionally designed for place (Cain et al., 2024; Crumb et al., 2023; McNamee et al., 2025) .  \nWhile prior research has largely focused on mentoring program structures or practitioner perspectives, less is known about how rural community college students themselves experience mentorship and how these relationships influence academic and career decisionmaking. Student perspectives can illuminate what forms of mentoring matter most, how mentoring shapes students’confidence and planning, and where gaps in support remain, particularly in institutions that serve as central hubs for advising, financial aid, and student support across wide geographic regions.  \nGuided by the question: How do students feel the mentorship experience at their colleges affects their academic and career outcomes?, this study draws on survey data from 99 students nationwide collected as  \npart of the Rural Learner Success project. This data note integrates quantitative associations with students’ qualitative reflections to highlight how mentorship functions as a turning point in academic and career direction, a catalyst for career exploration and planning, and a source of relational  \n[uw. edu/cc ri](uw. edu/cc ri) 1  \nRURAL LEARNER SUCCESS DATA NOTE SERIES | Rural community college students’ perspectives on mentorship, academic and career outcomes  \nsupport during academic and career transitions in rural community college contexts.  \nSTUDY CONTEXT AND DATA SOURCES  \nThe Rural Learner Success project began with a review of institutional websites across 444 rural-serving community colleges (see  Data Note 1) . In this review, we found that more than half (52%) of mentoring opportunities focused on career readiness/exploration and financial support/advising, while 47% focused on academic advising, and about a third focused on ","cbCaivkUgN5voEWX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivkUgN5voEWX","pdf",245792,"English","# Introduction\n# Study Context and Data Sources\n## Institutional Website Review\n## Interviews and Survey Data","[{\"question\":\"What guiding question does the study use to examine mentorship?\",\"answer\":\"How do students feel the mentorship experience at their colleges affects their academic and career outcomes?\"},{\"question\":\"How was the study data collected?\",\"answer\":\"The study uses survey data from 99 students nationwide and integrates it with qualitative reflections from student mentees and mentors.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the study focus on regarding mentorship opportunities?\",\"answer\":\"It categorizes mentorship opportunities by focus areas such as career readiness/exploration and financial advising, academic advising, enrollment and transition, and academic success strategies.\"}]","COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH INITIATIVES - RURAL LEARNER SUCCESS DATA NOTE SERIES - DATA NOTE 4 - FEBRUARY 2026 | PDF",1792050348]