ABSTRACT
As chapters in this book illustrate, belonging is positively correlated to many beneficial experiences and outcomes for students in higher education. However, the rhetoric of belonging can be alienating to students, particularly students with historically marginalized identities, who wonder whether they do – or want to – fit into a community. Scholarship on belonging may misinterpret feelings of marginalization among some students, miss opportunities to support their thriving, and limit student agency. Mattering, a concept related to but distinct from belonging, focuses on people feeling valued by others in a shared context. In this chapter, co-authored by two faculty members and two undergraduates, we explore the overlaps and distinctions between belonging and mattering by analyzing the perspectives of current and former students from historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) involved in student–faculty partnership at two liberal arts colleges and student–student peer mentoring programs at a community college. We then offer implications and recommendations for what faculty can do to foster and support academic belonging and mattering for students.
