The Students First Mentoring Project's (SFMP) mission is to help new-to-campus first generation students succeed at and graduate from college. Our aim is to help students adjust to increased demands of this new setting by connecting them with mentors who help demystify college, and to provide them with information about and links to campus support services, as well as time-tested strategies for dealing with specific university adjustment issues.

Underlying Students First is the idea that the university is a more confusing, complex environment than our participants - whether they are new freshmen or recent community college transfer students - are used to. Portland State University offers a wide range of support services, yet many new students never find the resources and learn how to navigate the university. Traditional college orientation programs emphasize "what" things are available and "where" they are located on campus. While SFMP does provide the needed "what" and "where" information, we also emphasize "how to do" critical elements of the college student role. This emphasis on the importance of "knowing how to do" is also reflected in the way that program mentors share strategies with new students about "how to succeed at college." SFMP is designed to help new students make smarter choices by teaching them adjustment strategies that have already been proven to work.