Massey is no longer accepting ANY new domestic students for the rest of the year

Massey University has closed all applications from domestic students for Semester 2 and Summer School 2021, with both study periods now at a full capacity. Students who have already received an offer of place, and students currently enrolled to continue their studies, will not be impacted. PhD and doctoral students are also an exception, with applications continuing to be accepted at this level of study. This decision is due to fears of breaching government enrolment limits that place caps over funding.

According to Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas, Massey has experienced extraordinary demand for its flexible learning opportunities, with most qualifications seeing a “growth in enrolments” across “all levels of study”, notably Bachelors in Business, Arts, Design, Nursing and more.

Thomas admits that this demand is “driven by the current COVID-19 environment, where New Zealanders are looking to upskill,” and that it’s important for Massey to continue to deliver high quality learning within their funding allocation.

Massey University is required by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to stay within 105% of its funding allocation. Forecasting showed that if applications had not been closed off, Massey would have exceeded their Student Achievement Component (SAC) (i.e., government-funded EFTS) threshold and reached 109%, which is 4% more than the 105% limit. Yes, Massive can do maths.

The SAC for Massey has been consistently rising since 2017, and gaining an even quicker speed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 environment and a demand for flexible and online learning. However, Thomas assures that the decision to close off applications is “purely in response to our funding cap being reached and not a change in our drive to support ways for all New Zealanders to learn”.