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 new 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. They are here to help you transition into university life and assist you with navigating living off campus and forming a social network. All mentors have received training from the Student Services Centre. 

Mentors will be available to answer your questions by email before you arrive at LSE, once you opt-in to receive pre-arrival support. They are also available to answer questions via email throughout the academic year. Mentors also facilitate mentee meetings to encourage you to meet with other students who are living off campus. Mentors hold a mentee meeting during the main Welcome period (18-22 September 2023). They also hold further meetings during Michaelmas Term and occasionally throughout your first academic year.

Off campus mentors are not counsellors or supervisors, so they may not be able to answer questions on academic or legal matters, for example. However, in cases where they cannot answer a question, they can still help by identifying the appropriate service for you to contact.

Mentors are allocated a mentee group of 8-10 mentees, usually in the same department as you. You will be part of a larger mentee group. Group meetings have the additional benefit of helping you to broaden your social network and meet other new students who are also living off campus. You can also ask your mentor questions about university life and learn from the experiences of other students who are living of campus.

If you would like to talk to your mentor alone, they can always ask your mentor to set-up an individual meeting or send them an email.

The Off Campus Support Scheme is here to support you if you are:

• A first year undergraduate or General Course student, AND
• Not living in an LSE hall of residence (including Urbanest Westminster Bridge and Urbanest Kings Cross). 

If you are living in an LSE hall but feel like you would benefit from additional help with settling in, please do consider approaching your Warden (or School Representative), Subwardens or Hall Committee for assistance. If you are a postgraduate student looking for additional support, please reach out to your academic tutor or department to discuss the options available to you. 

All first year undergraduate and Study Abroad students who have been identified as not living in LSE-owned accommodation can opt-in to be assigned a trained student mentor.

The deadline to opt-in to receive pre-arrival support for the 2023/24 academic year is Monday 28 August 2023. Any applications made after this time will be processed on a rolling basis but may not be in time for you to receive pre-arrival support. If you opt-in later in the year, communication with your mentor and access to the Scheme will begin at the next allocation date.

Most of the contact mentees have with the Scheme will be through their mentor, however the Off Campus Support Scheme is coordinated by the Student Services Events Team. If you have any questions about the Scheme or your mentor, you can submit an enquiry to the team.

Your mentor will arrange a mentee meeting during the main Welcome period (Monday 18 - Friday 22 September 2023). 

They will arrange further meetings, at minimum, in Weeks 2 and 7 of Michaelmas Term, then at the beginning and end of subsequent terms. If you need to speak to your mentor outside of these times, they are available to answer questions via email throughout the academic year.  

If you have applied to the Scheme but haven't received an email from your mentor by mid-September, there are a number of things you can do:

1.      Confirm your eligibility. Are you a new first year undergraduate or Study Abroad student, and not currently holding an offer of LSE owned accommodation?

2.      Check your junk folder. If you have applied to LSE using a gmail address (for example) your mentor's introduction may have been misidentified as spam/junk.

3.      Ensure your email address is correct in LSE for You.

If you have done all of these things but still haven't received an email from your mentor, please submit an enquiry and provide your full name and date of birth so we can investigate and allocate you to a mentor as quickly as possible.

It is an opt-in Scheme, so participation is completely voluntary. You can choose how much you want to engage with the Scheme. You are under no obligation to attend meetings with your mentor, but students do tell us that it really helped them to settle in. If, for any reason, you decide that you no longer want to participate in the Scheme, it is important that you inform your mentor. 

Your mentor is always available by email throughout the year to answer any questions that come up. Don't feel shy about getting in touch! 

Download this map to see the timeline of a mentee's journey throughout the academic year. Note that this timeline is indicative of a mentee's journey who has opted-in to receive pre-arrival support.