The University of Otago owns, or is in affiliation with, fourteen residential colleges, which provide food, accommodation, social and welfare services.
Most of these cater primarily for first year students, though some have a sizable number of second and higher year undergraduates, as well as occasionally a significant postgraduate population.
While some teaching is normally undertaken at a college, this generally represents a small percentage of a resident's formal tuition.

Most colleges actively seek to foster a sense of community and academic achievement amongst their members through, variously, intercollegiate competitions, communal dining, apartment groups, traditionalism, independent students' clubs, college events and internal sporting and cultural societies.

The colleges are geographically spread over the Dunedin urban area:
Abbey College
Aquinas College
Arana College
Caroline Freeman College
Carrington College
Cumberland College
Hayward College
Knox College
Salmond College
Selwyn College
St Margaret's College
Studholme College
Te Rangi Hiroa College
Toroa College
University College
In mid October 2019, the University of Otago announced that it would be building a new 450-room residential college called Te Rangi Hiroa, which will replace the current Te Rangi Hiroa College along Cumberland Street.
The new college is estimated to cost NZ$90 million and is located on the corner of Albany and Forth Streets near the Dunedin campus.
The University of Otago owns, or is in affiliation with, fourteen residential colleges, which provide food, accommodation, social and welfare services. Most of these cater primarily for first year students, though some have a sizable number of second and higher year undergraduates, as well as occasionally a significant postgraduate population. While some teaching is normally undertaken at a college, this generally represents a small percentage of a resident's formal tuition.
Most colleges actively seek to foster a sense of community and academic achievement amongst their members through, variously, intercollegiate competitions, communal dining, apartment groups, traditionalism, independent students' clubs, college events and internal sporting and cultural societies.
The colleges are geographically spread over the Dunedin urban area:
Abbey College
Aquinas College
Arana College
Caroline Freeman College
Carrington College
Cumberland College
Hayward College
Knox College
Salmond College
Selwyn College
St Margaret's College
Studholme College
Te Rangi Hiroa College
Toroa College
University College
In mid October 2019, the University of Otago announced that it would be building a new 450-room residential college called Te Rangi Hiroa, which will replace the current Te Rangi Hiroa College along Cumberland Street. The new college is estimated to cost NZ$90 million and is located on the corner of Albany and Forth Streets near the Dunedin campus.
University of Otago