Half of University of Canterbury students will not benefit from university halls of residence

First-year University of Canterbury students are being forced to move to apartments as the university’s halls of residence reach capacity.

Enrollment at UC topped 22,000 earlier this year, up 20 percent from five years ago.

But that means more than 4,000 students applied for places in first-year halls when there are only 2,083 places available.

With so many students forced to look elsewhere to live, apartments have also become harder to find.

Brie is due to start studying social work at the Christchurch campus in February, but more than a month after applying she is still on the waiting list for the University of Canterbury’s Ilam Apartments.

“It’s not really ideal, especially when I was saving specifically for the halls, and I was really excited and then when we went to the open house, one of the RAs (residency advisors) from one of the halls told me ‘if you put this room first, you will definitely enter it.

She worried that she wouldn’t have the same experience as her friends who lived in the halls this year if she moved to an apartment during her first year.

“It’s okay, it’ll be okay, but it’s not really what I wanted. I saw a lot of my friends this year walking through the halls and how exciting it was.

“They were able to do stuff between lobbies and they had really cool things on all their floors.”

Originally from Dunedin, she said Christchurch seemed to have a good balance between party culture and studies. When she visited the city, she noticed that the apartments were generally nicer than in Dunedin and the rent was cheaper than in Auckland and Wellington.

“Christchurch is a good balance. Obviously students will go out and do stuff, but it’s not as crazy as Otago.”

Liam Mort, a year 13 student from Wellington, will likely have to rent his apartment during his first year as he was still on the waiting list for another residence called Arcady Hall.

“It makes me a little nervous, but I’m very open-minded. I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about the apartment and the halls.”

Mort said he was really keen to study in Christchurch.

“I’m going to study astronomy and Canterbury is the only place in the country that offers it, so that’s where I had to go.”

Miriama Kirby said that as more people needed an apartment, it had become much more difficult to find one. After a long search, she finally found accommodation 20 minutes by car from the university.

“We didn’t get any of the student apartments we looked at, we applied for around 20 and got one yes.”

Between 2018 and 2023, the number of young people aged 15 to 29 increased by 3.4% in Christchurch, according to the latest census data.

Reassurance about the chances of socializing

University of Canterbury Students’ Association president Luke Mackay said while there were some downsides to not entering halls in first year, students would not miss out on socializing.

“I think a lot of people are nervous because you don’t get those experiences of 30 people on the field. But what you still get is the campus culture.

“Socially, I don’t think we’re missing much. I think I’m a very good example of that, I don’t live in corridors and I’ve never been in corridors and yet my social life is absolutely flourishing.”

He said students gain a sense of belonging through the university’s many clubs, such as the Canterbury University Boardriders Association and Lads Without Labels.

“Clubs, for example CUBA JIB, are a very good example of why our club culture is so strong.

“They put a ski ramp in our parking lot every year which is really cool and people ski down it. Lads Without Labels Race 72 is an example of something that can really only be done here because of the campus that we have.

“It’s so central, so green and so easy to get around. We have people running for 72 hours straight, raising support and funds for men’s mental health.”

The University of Canterbury said in a statement that it was still in the early stages of the application and placement process in university halls of residence and that the waiting list would continue to decrease as more offers were accepted. once the NCEA results are published.

The university is currently assessing the needs of prospective students in all areas, including on-campus housing.