The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2 - 92

Jesse Kokaua * Tasileta Teevale * Jacques van der Meer * Ala Teu * Stephen Scott * Mele Taumoepeau * Ana Hoseit

DISCUSSION
Equity of Access to Residential College
Accommodation
The University of Otago residential colleges
provide students with more than simply a place
to stay; they also provide academic support for
courses with large rolls and organised social
and sporting activities. Furthermore, they
foster a community of learners and provide
pseudo-parental input from the college warden
and staff interested in their students' welfare
and academic success. However, residential
colleges are also selective when it comes to
accepting applicants for placement in their
colleges. Given the high demand, residential
colleges can select students with attributes
they feel reflect the values of their college (i.e.,
academic performance at high school).
All first-year students in residential colleges
tended to be young school leavers and more
likely to have one or more NCEA science and
English subject passes than other students. Traditionally, older first-year students or students
who had poorer school grades had less access
to the support available in residential colleges.

Benefits of Residential College
Accommodation for Pacific Students
These findings are generally consistent with
those of other studies showing that students
living in a residential college accommodation
achieved higher grades than did students in
other accommodation types (Kanoy & Bruhn,
1996; Lopez Turley & Wodtke, 2010; Pascarella
et al., 1993). Pacific students who lived in residential college accommodation also had greater
academic success in their first year at university than did those in other accommodations.

92

Furthermore, these results are consistent with
those of other studies showing that students in
college residences were more likely to persist
in their studies than were those who lived off
campus (Goldstein, 1999; Halawah, 2006;
Lopez Turley & Wodtke, 2010; Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005). For first-year Pacific students
at the University of Otago, the impact of living
in a residential college remained evident for
outcomes beyond their first year, such as retention and degree completion. The effect of
living in a college residence remained significant even after taking into account differences
in students' performance in their first year.
This study's findings support at least one study
which found that first-year students living in
a residential accommodation achieved better
academic outcomes than did a control group
of students with similar academic backgrounds
(Kanoy & Bruhn, 1996), though the authors
admitted they were unable to account for academic programme differences for students in
other accommodation settings. Thus, it was difficult for that study to ascertain if the improved
grades were a result of the accommodation
status or the additional tuition available in residential halls. At the University of Otago, extra
tutorial and mentor programmes are available
to all Pacific students independent of accommodation type, so the effect of residential colleges
seen here is likely to arise from social integration and engagement with support rather than
the availability of support programmes.
The findings do not confirm results from
studies suggesting that the impact of living
in a residential college is mediated by other
external factors (Blimling, 1989). Instead, the
advantages obtained from living in a residential
college compared with living in the local com-

T h e J o u r n a l o f C o l l e g e a n d U n i v e r s i t y St u d e n t H o u s i n g
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2

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