The first weeks of the first year of college are crazy.

Freshmen are bombarded with information on how to deal with roommates, study, find classes and choose a major.

The second year? Not so much. And that can be a problem.

"It is assumed by their second year they are off and running, but they really aren't," said Víctor Macías-González, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Sophomores who don't get the attention they need will drop out, he said. This "sophomore slump" is more common among UW-L students that are the first in their family to go to college, minority students or students from low-income backgrounds, he said.

That's why UW-L started an Eagle Mentoring Program this fall in the College of Liberal Studies, aimed at those second-year students. The program, which Macías-González now directs, provides 10 students selected this year with tutoring, direction to campus resources, a faculty mentor and more.

The program is paid through a one-year $30,000 UW System grant. If successful, the program likely will be continued and replicated on other campuses, said Macías-González.

Research at UW-L indicated something happens in the second year that causes students of color to leave - either for another institution or to drop out entirely before completing their bachelor's degree. About 39 percent of African-American students who started at UW-L from fall 1997 to fall 1999 graduated within six years, compared with 61 percent of the Caucasian students, according to the Equity Scorecard Project, done to assess UW-L's diversity goals.

Retention within the UW System and nationally typically is more of a problem after the first year, but for some reason at UW-L it worsens after the second year, said Vicki Washington, vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion for the UW System. The program will allow UW-L to try to mitigate the loss, she said.

"We are giving mentors to students that don't have the resources, students that don't have helicopter parents, that don't have the family history to cope with the problems they are facing," said Macías-González.