Making or Breaking The College Experience: The Impact of Faculty Mentorship on Undergraduate Student Experience

Today’s undergraduate students are arguably more career-focused than ever before. Approximately 45% of students report that college is a stepping stone for graduate school or their career (Fischman & Gardner, 2022). While previous generations maintained that the purpose of college was to develop a philosophy of life or to find themselves, today’s students are looking for a high return on investment for their education (Harmon, 2016; Soler & Stolzenberg, 2025). In other words, students are pursuing higher education to qualify for well-paying, stable jobs. As a result, the pathway to earning a degree has become transactional for many students and their faculty members. Students in higher education have shifted towards viewing themselves as customers of the university (McMurtie, 2024). This phenomenon, a symptom of neoliberalism,  favors the privatization of public services like higher education (Peters & Jandrić, 2018). Neoliberalism in higher education prioritizes individuality, thereby commodifying education; an education that was once viewed as a human right (Peters & Jandrić, 2018). At many institutions, faculty members are not incentivized to care for the students holistically (e.g., mentoring, advising, providing career-related support, etc.). This is a critical problem facing higher education and student affairs educators. In this blog, I will argue that the transition to the neoliberal university has caused both students and faculty to deprioritize faculty-student relationships. I will offer suggestions for re-prioritizing faculty-student relationships from the literature, as well as offer my perspective as a current undergraduate student.

Decreased Interaction Between Faculty and Students

The prevalence in the consumer mindset may be associated with a decrease in interaction between students and faculty (Carlson, 2025). This change is two-sided; as much as faculty are de-incentivized to engage in relationships with their students, students are also buying into their role in the transaction. Students are often more interested in doing the bare minimum to get a good grade rather than putting in the effort to form meaningful relationships with their faculty members (McMurtie, 2024). While I personally do not relate closely with this sentiment, I do think there is quite a bit of truth in it. For example, within the last year, I have only gone to office hours once when it was not required. With most professors, I have built close relationships through instructional time, but that has not extended to attending office hours regularly. In an interview about his book co-authored with Leo M. Lampert entitled, Relationship Rich Education, Peter Felton said,

We have to be much more explicit with all of our students about why relationships matter in their education, and that they should prioritize building those relationships…These relationships aren’t an obstacle to getting through college, or a fun byproduct of college — they are a core component of your education (Covington, 2021, para. 11).

Often, students do not attend office hours because they expect their grades to reflect the work they put into class. Students do not think that they should be expected to go above and beyond the requirement of attending lectures and completing coursework to receive good grades. The holistic purpose of attending college is lost in the consumer mentality. Liberal education was meant to shape ways of thinking and dispositions (Deng, 2018). Interactions with faculty and professors are paramount to the process of gaining a liberal education. Students who engage with their faculty often thrive in their post-grad life: they have twice the odds of being engaged in their work (Purdue University, 2014). The collaborative aspect of higher education is lost when these interactions are not leveraged effectively (Carlson, 2025). Students find themselves unsupported and a crucial part of their college education goes unfulfilled.

The Benefits of Mentorship

Mentoring relationships bridges the gap in student support. Mentorship enhances meaning-making for students and transcends the consumer mentality. One result of lost interaction includes students being poorly prepared for post-graduate life (Seymour & Lopez, 2015). The 2014 Gallup-Purdue Index, identifies several factors for faculty engagement, and underscores the importance of supportive relationships, whether from a mentor or professor (Purdue University, 2014). Students who have strong mentors are more likely to reflect positively on their college experience and consider the overall college experience as worthy of their time and resources (Covington, 2021). Mentors provide critical support in higher education and beyond. When discussing the importance of mentorship in an interview, Leo M. Lambert said:

Students with seven to 10 mentors are going to be more satisfied with their college experiences and more apt to say that their college experience has been worthwhile…But even one mentor made a big difference. Get that first one, and you’re well on your way (Covington, 2021, para. 6).

Student affairs educators provide significant mentorship, and support student retention, graduation and career success. If students become dissatisfied with their college experience, student retention suffers. Mentors offer students an improved opinion of their education and they can often identify when students are struggling (Covington, 2021). Mentors assist students in navigating resources both on and off campus. In my experience, advisors can be mentors as well. Having an academic advisor available to assist me in problem-solving increased my sense of belonging. As an honors student, I have been both a mentee and a mentor. Both roles have been equally important in helping me feel like a valued member of the community. I apply myself more when I am invested in my work, and having other people depend on me provides a sense of belonging.

Is College Worth It?

The price of college has increased by over 312% since 1962, even after adjusting for inflation (Hanson, 2025). With this extreme price elevation, it is natural to consider whether attending college is worth the financial investment. Through a neoliberal lens, the college experience and the accompanying degree can be seen as a good to be purchased. Students must consider each university based on course offerings and tuition costs. This sentiment suggests that it is not practical to pay for a college education that offers a low return on investment when it comes to finding a well-paying job (Mintz, 2021). Along with the transactional mentality comes a decrease in the faculty-student interaction– as faculty are evaluated by their productivity (e.g., publications and securing grants; Vazquez & Levin, 2018). Developing souls is not as important as gaining skills to many students and faculty today (Appiah, 2015). In an article by Stebleton and Tarana (2024), Tarana, who is a student in the medical field said, “I can’t just focus on developing practical skills to pursue a career in medicine. I must also be compassionate, knowledgeable, empathetic, and charismatic to be successful in handling patients and networking” (para. 14). It is not enough to train students on job-related skills, colleges must educate the whole student.

Proposed Strategies to Support Mentor Relationships

Without intervention, the benefits of having mentors and close relationships with caring instructors may dissipate. Mentorship provides students with increased satisfaction with their college experience and provides better career outcomes. This aspect of higher education is crucial due to the shift towards neoliberalism and society’s questioning the value  of higher education (Fry et al., 2024). 

In supporting students’ need for mentorship, I will highlight several potential interventions.

1. Faculty should prioritize interactions with students

• Require office hours visits with faculty. I suggest timing these for when drafts of papers are due. This would help provide structure for the meeting and show students how to constructively use office hours.

• Encourage faculty engagement. Faculty should prioritize getting to know their students. For me, having a relationship with the professor and having them know my name makes me feel like I belong in the class.

• Increase offerings for seminars or discussion-based courses. Add more first-year seminars. These should be of smaller class size and discussion-based. In my experience, the first year seminar was very informative on resources available on-campus, specifically in a large college within a flagship institution. Other scholars have advocated for institutions to expand seminars for more students. In an interview with Carlson (2025) from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Steven Mintz, professor of history from University of Texas at Austin said, “We need more small seminars with faculty members that are not simply discipline-specific, but deal with big intellectual or cultural or artistic issues” (para. 6). 

• Increase student-faculty interaction via mentoring

2. Envision the Role of Teaching Assistants and Their Potential to Supplement Mentoring Roles

• Give teaching assistants more opportunities to present in the classroom rather than just grading work. This additional role provides another opportunity for professional development with a focus on developing mentor relationships with students. 

• Focus on in-class discussion over lecturing. TA led discussions can provide more opportunity for discussion because the teaching team would be able to put more time into the class.

• Explore opportunities for getting to know students, even in large classes.

3. Educate instructors on the importance of these caring relationships (e.g., learning students’ names)

• When hiring lecturers or faculty, ensure their onboarding includes emphasis on faculty-student relationship building

• Advocate for humanistic approach around supporting students to encourage relationships

• Offer departmental or cross-departmental events to provide networking opportunities with other faculty

• Increase the number of available seats in honors programs so that more student members can participate

Conclusion

Faculty are measured by how many students they can get through the door, and students feel like they are just there to get a job (Harmon, 2026; McMurtie, 2025). These motives strain the interaction between students and faculty in comparison to the days prior to the neoliberalism wave (Peters & Jandrić, 2018). While neoliberalism persists, considering the importance of the faculty-student relationships can benefit students in the long run (Covington, 2021). Implementing these recommendations could help bring institutions closer to supporting students not only in their education and career, but also as citizens. Navigating the tension between my own participation in a neoliberalist system, while benefitting from mentors who prioritize faculty-student relationships has been tricky. There is more to college than checking a box, despite my peers’ groans that  required liberal education themes are a waste of time. One way I manage is to take advantage of opportunities to broaden my knowledge such as this blog. This blog represents one of the few opportunities to develop a meaningful relationship with my professor that I’ve had so far during my undergraduate career. My professor, Dr. Stebleton, invested in me to write a published piece. Because of this experience, I feel better prepared for my career. 

 

References

Appiah, K. A. (2015, September 15). What is the point of college? The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/what-is-the-point-of-college.html

Carlson, S. (December 11th, 2025). Higher ed is facing a crisis of ‘authority’. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/the-edge/2025-12-11?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_16065852_nl_Afternoon-Update_date_20251211&sra=true

Covington, O. (2021). Lambert and Felten explore the power of ‘relationship-rich education’ in new book. Elon University. https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2021/01/04/lambert-and-felten-explore-the-power-of-relationship-rich-education-in-new-book/#:~:text=Fostering%20relationships%20cannot%20be%20left,core%20component%20of%20your%20education.%E2%80%9D

Deng, Z. (2018). Bringing knowledge back in: Perspectives from liberal education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 48(3), 335–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2017.1330874

Felten, P., & Lambert, L. M. (2020). Relationship-rich education: How human connection drive success in college. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Fry, R., Braga, D., & Parker, K. (2024, May 23). Is college worth it?. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/05/23/is-college-worth-it-2/ 

Gardner, H. & Fischman, W. (2022). The real world of college: What higher education is and what it can be. MIT Press.

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