The Off Campus Support Scheme recognises that students living off campus experience a different set of challenges to those living in LSE halls of residence. It connects first year undergraduate and Study Abroad students who are living off campus with an experienced undergraduate student mentor. Their mentor offers support and connects them to other students in their mentoring group who also live off campus.

A mentor is a trained volunteer undergraduate student with experience of LSE. Mentors act as a source of guidance by helping new students settle into life at LSE, facilitating mentee meetings and signposting them to services. The Student Services Centre offers compulsory training to all mentors to prepare them for their role.

You can read about the experiences of Off Campus Mentors.

Mentors are allocated a mentee group of 8-10 mentees, usually in the same department as them. They send their mentee group an email towards the end of the summer to welcome them to LSE and answer their pre-arrival questions. They are also expected to answer questions via email throughout the academic year. 

Mentors also facilitate mentee meetings to encourage their mentees to meet with other students who are living off campus. Mentors are expected to hold a mentee meeting during the main Welcome period (Monday 23 - Friday 27 September 2024). They also hold further meetings during Autumn Term and occasionally throughout their mentees' first academic year.

It's not particularly time intensive, but mentors have considerable impact in terms of providing support, facilitating early social networks and signposting their mentees to the appropriate services.

• You must be a continuing LSE undergraduate student in the following academic year
• You do not need to have lived off campus yourself - just an understanding of the challenges faced by those who do
• You must be available to answer pre-arrival questions via your LSE email in August and dedicate time to hosting your mentee meeting during the main Welcome period, Week 2 and 7 of AutumnTerm, and the beginning and end of Winter Term

Volunteering as an Off Campus Support Scheme mentor is a great way to:

• Give back to the LSE community
• Enhance your CV
• Increase your leadership, communication and interpersonal skills

• Provide pre-arrival support to mentees via LSE email to assist their smooth arrival on campus. Mentors must have regular access to LSE email from the end of August
• Provide a friendly and informative introduction to your mentees and help them to get to know one another
• Arrange the first mentee meeting during the main Welcome period (Monday 23 - Friday 27 September 2023)
• Suggest that your mentees take a self-guided campus tour and answer any questions that they may have
• Offer to arrange further meetings in Week 2 and 7 of Autumn Term, the beginning and end of the Winter Term and prior to exams in the Spring Term, at a minimum
• Respect confidences and only share any personal information about your mentee to the Scheme coordinator if you are worried about them 
• Provide prompt guidance to mentees via LSE email for the whole of the first academic year
• Promptly distribute essential information to your mentees as it is sent to you by the Scheme coordinator
• Attend Off Campus Support Scheme events
• Abide by the Terms and Conditions of the school, in particular those governing The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Statement

• Informative, targeted training to prepare you to succeed in your role
• Full support throughout the year from the Scheme coordinator
• A certificate of recognition of participation
• Termly ‘thank you’ events to recognise your contribution to the LSE community 

 Applications to be an Off Campus Support Scheme Mentor are now open:

 If you have any further questions, please submit an enquiry.