Seventy-two percent of the CLA First cohort logged in, and check-ins started in week one.
UMass Boston CLA FirstBoston, Massachusetts
By the numbers
108
CLA First mentees logged in, of roughly 150 in the cohort
PLATFORM DATA MentorPRO platform data, 6 October 2026.
119
Check-ins completed in the first three weeks of term
PLATFORM DATA MentorPRO platform data, 8 to 30 September 2026. Completed by 76 mentees.
3
UMass Boston colleges now running MentorPRO
PLATFORM DATA College of Liberal Arts, College of Management, and the Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, 2026.
CLA First is a learning community in the College of Liberal Arts at UMass Boston, where paid peer mentors support first-year students from orientation through graduation. In the first three weeks of the 2026 cohort, 108 of roughly 150 students logged in and 76 of them completed a check-in. The partnership began with this one learning community and has since spread to the College of Management and the Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Program facts
Organization
University of Massachusetts Boston, College of Liberal Arts
Segment
Higher education, public urban research university
Program
CLA First, a first-year learning community
Population
First-year students, many of them first-generation. Advisors work with students from orientation through graduation.
Model
Paid peer mentors using goal setting, check-ins and secure messaging, with weekly staff supervision
Live since
September 2023
Measurement window
September and October 2026
Comparison group
None.
Analysis
MentorPRO platform data and program reporting.
I am a peer mentor for the CLA First! Program, so as someone who heavily utilizes and depends on MentorPro, I am able to say that I am a major fan! MentorPRO has allowed me to further connect with my first-year mentees and I've been able to assist them in their first couple semesters of college.
Salem State’s first-year retention went from 76 to 82 percent.
Salem State adopted MentorPRO alongside an intentional shift toward goal-directed peer mentoring. Program leaders report that first-year retention, which had averaged 76 percent, reached 82 percent in the first year of the new model. Retention is associated with many factors, and these figures are the program's own reporting.
Most programs are seeing a 5 to 10 percent improvement in retention and a 25 to 30 percent ROI. Our first-year retention has been averaging 76 percent. This year, using MentorPRO, and adopting intentional goal-directed mentoring, we retained 82 percent.
Two peer-reviewed studies, 2,572 first-year students, and a measured link between engagement and grades.
Northeastern made app-supported peer mentoring available to every incoming first-year student and studied what happened over two years. Two peer-reviewed papers came out of it. More check-ins and more messages to peer mentors were both associated with higher end-of-year grade point averages, after controlling for prior academic risk. Both studies are observational, so they establish association rather than cause. More messaging was also associated with more course withdrawals.
I think this is probably the most helpful program our school has ever come out with.
Salem State UniversitySalem, Massachusetts