The academic benefits of residential accommodation are investigated for first-year Pacific students, an ethnic minority group, attending the University of Otago situated in Dunedin in New Zealand. Institutional data on seven cohorts of first-year students from 2007 to 2013 (28,155 students, of which 761 identified as Pacific) were extracted to determine if first-year accommodation could contribute to positive academic outcomes for these students. Residential accommodation clearly benefited these students in terms of first-year achievement as well as longer term retention and completion rates. Additionally, Pacific students who had few or no academic qualifications prior to enrollment appeared to benefit more from residential college accommodation; however, they were less likely to have access to a residential college. In conclusion, increased access to residential college accommodation for Pacific students and other ethnic minority students offers a pragmatic approach to reduce the disparities in tertiary educational attainment.