Reducing Higher Education Drop-Out Rates in a Disadvantaged Region

There are many universities in Hungary in existence crisis due to the drastic decline in student number. It can partly be attributed to demographic reasons but there are other ones that could be interpreted only in socio-economic context. It is not enough that fewer people are enrolling in higher education each year, but the drop-out rate is also very high. Adding these two factors together, the weight loss is even stronger concerning the graduates. Locally organized professor-based mentoring programs may be the solution to this problem at higher education level. This paper examines this kind of mentor role, the experience and its efficiency from the perspective of students at risk.