The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2 - 93

Ethnic Minority Student Success at a New Zealand University

munity remain, even after taking into account
differences in prior academic preparation from
school or work, which is more consistent with
results suggesting that benefits may differ
across different ethnic groups (Gonyea et al.,
n.d.; Lopez Turley & Wodtke, 2010).
Students with limited academic qualifications appeared to benefit more from residential accommodation. Overall, those who
enrolled with no formal qualification had
lower first-year grades, were less likely to pass
all their first-year papers, and were less likely
to return for a second year than were those
with some qualifications. If they were to pass
at least half of their first-year papers and subsequently continue to degree completion, they
were more likely to do so if they had lived in a
residential college in their first year at university. This study confirms and extends the results
of Sopoaga et al. (2013), who reported similar
findings for first-year health science students
at the University of Otago.

. . . removing fiscal barriers for
students from economically
constrained communities would
allow those benefits to extend to
an increased number of Pacific
students-ultimately encouraging
greater ongoing success that
will translate to the overall
performance of Pacific students
attending university .

Reducing Barriers for Pacific Students'
Access to Student Housing
Confirming what has also been suggested
for Māori students at the University of Otago
(Scott et al., 2010), this study shows that residential colleges, beyond simply being a place to
stay for a year, enhance Pacific students' firstyear achievement and subsequently contribute
to longer term outcomes of success. Residential colleges provide an opportunity to enhance
the transitional experience for students who
are used to community living and may be more
likely to benefit from the communal learning
environment.
However, gaining a place in a college has
been a challenge for many Pacific students,
particularly those with few qualifications.
Additionally, our data show that first-year
Pacific students were less likely than nonPacific students to live in residential colleges,
perhaps due to selection being based on preuniversity entrance NCEA grades or to Pacific
families choosing to opt out of college due
to financial constraints. The average cost of
university-managed residential college accommodation was as much as $16,000 per annum
or $370-$440 per academic week (25-30% of
the weekly median New Zealand household
income). Financial constraints appear to be
a plausible explanation of barriers, given the
over-representation of Pacific families in New
Zealand residing in low socio-economic neighbourhoods. In spite of over-representation by
Pacific Peoples in low socio-economic schools
in New Zealand overall (Ministry of Education,
2017), those who attend university appeared
to be over-representative of Pacific students
from high socio-economic schools. However,
there are still a relatively higher number of
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2

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