For today’s college students, academic rigor is only part of the equation. What often determines whether they persist (or quietly disengage) is a deeper, more personal factor: belonging.
In higher education, belonging refers to a student’s sense of being seen, valued, and connected within their campus community. It’s the difference between feeling like a guest and feeling like a member. And for Gen Z students in particular — many of whom are navigating college as first-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or nontraditional learners — that feeling isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential.
Recent research continues to underscore the link between belonging interventions for college students and key success metrics: retention, engagement, and academic performance. Students who report a strong sense of belonging are significantly more likely to return for their second year, participate in campus life, and meet their academic goals.
The High Cost of Disconnection
When students don’t feel like they belong, they’re more likely to withdraw, both socially and academically. This lack of connection can lead to missed classes, lower performance, and eventually, dropping out altogether.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse, almost 25% of students do not persist, and almost 30% of students do not retain. For many, the issue isn’t academic ability — it’s isolation.
Summer melt is another clear example. Each year, tens of thousands of admitted students fail to show up on campus in the fall. Research shows that many of these students never felt a strong tie to the institution in the first place. Without meaningful connection or consistent outreach, they opt out before they even begin.
This disconnection comes at a steep cost. Emotionally, students may experience loneliness, anxiety, and stress. Institutionally, colleges lose tuition revenue, face declining retention rates, and risk damage to their reputation. For public institutions, lower persistence can even impact state funding.
The impact is not evenly distributed. First-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and commuter students often face additional barriers to belonging. These students may struggle to find spaces where they feel represented, heard, or safe — making targeted belonging interventions for college students even more critical.
What Makes a Belonging Intervention Work?
Belonging isn’t something that can be addressed with a single program or a one-time orientation event. Effective belonging interventions for college students are intentional, layered, and designed with the student experience at the center. The most successful efforts share a few common traits:
1. Early, Sustained, and Inclusive
Belonging starts long before a student sets foot on campus. Some of the most impactful interventions begin as early as the post-admit stage, helping students feel connected before the academic year even begins. But it doesn’t stop there. Belonging must be nurtured throughout the first year and beyond, especially during key transitions — like moving off campus, changing majors, or entering upper-division coursework. Interventions must also be inclusive, designed with the full diversity of the student population in mind.
2. Peer-Led or Student-Informed
Students are more likely to feel a sense of belonging when they hear from and interact with people who’ve been in their shoes. Programs that leverage peer mentors, ambassadors, or student-led communities tend to feel more authentic and accessible. Equally important: interventions should be shaped by student feedback, not just administrative assumptions. When students help design or lead engagement strategies, the results are often more relevant and more effective.
3. Measurable (Not Just Feel-Good)
Belonging may be a “soft” concept, but it needs to be backed by hard data. Without a way to measure outcomes, institutions can’t know what’s working — or for whom. The most effective interventions track participation, engagement, and sentiment over time, often using surveys, platform analytics, or persistence data. Measurement also helps secure buy-in from institutional leaders by showing the return on investment.
4. Culturally Competent and Identity-Aware
Belonging looks different for different students. First-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, commuter, and international students may all face unique barriers to connection. Strong interventions acknowledge this and are designed to reflect students’ varied identities, values, and experiences. That might mean creating affinity-based programming, ensuring diverse representation in leadership roles, or offering flexible engagement options that meet students where they are.
Top 5 Proven Belonging Interventions
While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for building belonging, some approaches have consistently shown impact across a wide range of campuses. Below are five interventions that combine structure, inclusion, and scalability…with real results.
1. Accepted-Student Communities (Before Orientation)
Belonging starts early, sometimes even before a student makes their final enrollment decision. Digital platforms like Raftr create private, moderated spaces where admitted students can meet their future classmates, ask questions, and explore campus life. These communities help students feel welcomed, reduce melt, and make orientation less intimidating. They’re especially effective for first-gen and out-of-state students, who often benefit from early reassurance that they’re not alone.
2. First-Year Cohort Programs
Structured cohort experiences are a time-tested way to foster belonging among new students. Whether through first-year experience (FYE) courses, themed learning communities, or residential living-learning programs, these interventions give students a “home base” where they can build friendships, receive support, and explore shared interests.
Cohorts built around academic pathways, identities, or career goals are especially effective. They create smaller communities within the larger campus ecosystem and help students form a lasting connection to peers and faculty early on.
3. Peer Mentor or Ambassador Programs
Students often feel most supported by someone who understands what they’re going through. Peer mentorship programs connect incoming or at-risk students with trained upper-level mentors, who can offer guidance, encouragement, and practical advice.
These programs don’t just support students, they also help institutions scale engagement without overextending staff. When paired with training and structure, peer mentors become a powerful extension of the student affairs team, helping create a culture of belonging from within.
4. Inclusive Campus Traditions & Micro-Events
Large-scale events like orientation and homecoming are important, but belonging often grows in smaller, more personal moments. Inclusive micro-events like cultural celebrations, identity-based dinners, informal study groups, or wellness walks create consistent opportunities for connection.
To be effective, these events should reflect the diversity of the student body. Low-barrier, recurring programs help ensure every student can find a space where they feel seen.
5. Belonging Dashboards & Feedback Loops
What gets measured gets improved. More institutions are now tracking belonging through surveys, pulse check-ins, engagement analytics, and real-time feedback tools. These “belonging dashboards” allow administrators to identify gaps, understand trends, and respond before issues grow.
Platforms, like Raftr, that combine community-building with insights help institutions move beyond assumptions and design targeted interventions based on real student input. Measurement also builds credibility and helps align belonging work with larger institutional goals like retention and equity.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
While many colleges are actively investing in belonging initiatives, not all efforts produce meaningful impact. In some cases, well-intentioned programs fall flat, or worse, leave some students feeling even more isolated. To avoid that, here are a few common pitfalls to watch for:
1. Treating Belonging as a One-Time Event
Hosting a welcome week or occasional identity-themed celebration is not enough. Belonging isn’t built in a day, it requires consistent, ongoing opportunities for students to connect with peers, mentors, and campus resources. One-off events may create a moment of connection, but without follow-through, that connection fades quickly.
2. Overloading Students With Passive Programming
A packed calendar doesn’t always translate to meaningful engagement. Students often report that they feel “invited to everything but connected to nothing.” Belonging interventions for college students should prioritize quality over quantity, with intentional design, relevance, and space for two-way interaction.
3. Relying Too Heavily on Staff-Only Models
With growing demands and shrinking resources, student affairs teams can’t do it all. Programs that rely solely on professional staff for planning and delivery are hard to sustain. Scalable models that include peer leaders, student contributors, or automated tools are more likely to create lasting connections.
4. Overlooking Identity-Specific Needs
A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Students from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds often face unique barriers to belonging. Programs that don’t consider factors like race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, or commuter status risk excluding the very students who most need support.
5. Failing to Measure and Iterate
Without data, it’s impossible to know if a belonging initiative is effective — or if it’s reaching the students who need it most. Institutions that don’t measure engagement or sentiment are missing opportunities to improve, refine, and make a stronger case for future investment.
Real-World Example: Creating Early Belonging at Scale
North Carolina A&T State University + Raftr
As the nation’s largest historically Black university, North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T) serves a vibrant and diverse student population. In order to strengthen belonging on campus for among admitted students, they turned to Raftr’s YieldRaiser solution.
As a proven strategy to increase yield and decrease melt, Raftr gives new students a place to meet future classmates, ask questions, and build familiarity with the university — all before stepping on campus.
💡 Results:
- Increased sense of belonging and connection amongst admitted students
- Reduction in student anxiety about attending college, before students stepped foot on campus
- Improved ability for administration to use data to predict resources, such as tracking open rates for campus resources and other virtual spaces for connections
- Improved communication between administration and admitted students, and between admitted students during the decision period.
This early-intervention helped set the tone for a stronger sense of belonging from day one. By creating space for peer connection and institutional trust early on, NC A&T demonstrated how technology can extend the reach of student affairs without losing the human touch.
How to Get Started
Launching a belonging intervention for college students doesn’t have to mean overhauling your entire student experience. The most effective programs often begin with a small, focused pilot — then grow based on student feedback and measurable outcomes. Here are a few practical steps to get started:
1. Start with a Clear Student Group or Moment
Identify a high-impact point in the student journey:
- Prospective Students
- Admitted students (before orientation)
- Enrolled students
- Alumni
Narrowing your focus helps ensure that the intervention is tailored, trackable, and meaningful.
2. Center Student Voice
Before designing the intervention, ask students what they actually need. Run listening sessions, pulse surveys, or feedback panels. Build programs that reflect their real concerns, not just what administrators assume they want.
3. Choose Tools That Match Your Resources
Whether you’re creating peer-led discussion groups or launching a digital community platform, pick tools that are scalable and realistic for your team to maintain. Consider platforms that offer built-in moderation, analytics, and easy onboarding for students and staff.
4. Establish Simple Metrics for Success
Define what success looks like before launch. Common indicators include:
- Participation rates
- First-year persistence
- Surveyed sense of belonging or connection
- Melt reduction (for pre-enrollment communities)
Collecting data from the start helps you improve the program and justify further investment.
5. Pilot, Measure, and Expand
Start small. Test the program with one group or one cohort. Use what you learn to refine your approach before scaling it across campus. Belonging work is iterative — and even small gains can lead to big impact.
Final Thoughts
Belonging isn’t just a feeling — it’s a foundation for student success. When students feel connected, supported, and seen, they’re more likely to persist, thrive, and graduate. For institutions, that translates to stronger retention, better engagement, and improved outcomes across the board.
The growing interest in belonging interventions (as reflected in rising search trends and national conversations) signals that higher ed leaders are ready to take this challenge seriously. But meaningful impact requires more than intent. It takes early action, student-centered design, and the right tools to make connection scalable and measurable.
Whether you’re just beginning to explore this work or looking to expand what’s already in place, now is the time to treat belonging as a strategic priority, not just a student affairs initiative.
Want to see how digital platforms like Raftr help institutions build belonging from day one?
Learn more about our student engagement solutions or reach out for a demo.