Manawatū halls of residence reject the most applicants

Halls run by Massey on the Manawatū campus have nearly 10 times the number of declined applications than the other two campuses for the years 2020 and 2021 combined. 

According to data obtained from Massey, 20 applicants were rejected from Massey’s Manawatū halls of residence, while 26 have been rejected in 2021 so far. In comparison, Massey-run halls on the Albany campus had zero rejected applicants both years, while Massey-run halls on the Wellington campus had two rejected applicants in 2020 and three rejected applicants in 2021. 

According to Massey, there are 17 Massey-run halls across the Manawatū campus, three Massey-run halls across the Wellington campus (two for first years and one for seniors) and one hall on the Auckland campus, Te Ohanga Village. 

Massey student Courtney says she applied for the Cube, one of Massey’s halls of residence near the Wellington campus, late 2018 and was declined twice before being accepted on the third round without an explanation. 

“As a relatively decent student I was really shocked and confused when I wasn't accepted the first and then second time. It was quite stressful because I had been counting on getting into the halls to be able to study at Massey. I finally got accepted a month or so later. When I was declined, no explanation was offered, and this was the most confusing part. I put it down to me being 17 at the time, but that was never confirmed. When my high school dean reached out to see where my application was at, she received no explanation either, so we were playing a waiting game for a month or so until the third round of applications were accepted,” Courtney said. 

A Massey spokesperson says that inability to accommodate students due to availability and cohort restrictions can be factors in declined applications for both the Wellington and Manawatū halls. 

“On the rare occasion, we may not be able to provide appropriate support for an applicant's needs, or, accept a returning applicant based on previous behaviours that impact the wider halls community,” the Massey spokesperson said. 

The situation is slightly different for Te Ohanga Village in Albany according to the spokesperson. 

“At our Te Ohanga Village, declined applications to accommodate students to date have been declining international students under the age of 18 who we have referred to the Massey University homestay. Declined applications have also included being unable to accommodate families as all rooms are a single occupancy,” they say. 

Ferguson Hall is an independently run hall of residence for Massey students on the Manawatū campus. Ferguson Hall RA Ruth says she thought it was interesting that Manawatū Massey had the highest number of application rejections at Massey halls. 

“We had introductory training with the RAs on the Manawatū campus alongside the head of campus managers etc. I remember them saying they still had rooms to fill up in specific halls as not all rooms had been filled. However, alongside this, I remember them mentioning that for certain halls they try to get a mix of people (there’s no specific resident they look for),” Ruth said. 

She says that there are non-alcoholic halls and a rainbow hall on the campus which she thought could possibly have different or more strict requirements when vetting potential residents which could also potentially lead to declined applications.