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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
1 V- j* [% }0 K& d: C8 k/ Y; gmy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
! r% ]' p7 Q8 I9 tin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
# P1 ?* @# e/ o1 b: l+ ?; `8 q8 x6 N680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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5 O; B8 L" R! [- ois more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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the current price look at this link ! @$ N) F8 q: @; D: C7 S w; Q+ {+ L
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
. y; U5 p7 n4 q2 Z: Z8 ~increase in housing cost!
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1 p- s+ c; e' nWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying ! x! K4 y2 A R, R
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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2 Z! q. R. B5 V8 ^Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university % E/ O( e0 ^0 ?8 m- j) F4 S6 L0 P
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
6 ?0 B8 i; N. f) v% j- `differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
3 a5 ~: C8 e$ N% z( v; I! p! cthe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
! w6 z' Q }0 h& d- f6 @and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
; e5 B- O) Z$ J; k. Y5 z( }" fasked to look for a residence on open market.
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$ U' {! [) _7 O' m7 _" q% q: l( G" dWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has $ O7 \" y+ ~) I: P- K4 }/ N- r: q }
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
/ f7 ?, o4 N8 k8 iexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
$ F5 q; y) @, Vadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students : h) ~0 b( N. B+ ]) ~# [
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after ' r' Y( C' [% g, O) o
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
. h7 n, l* ]" W8 v# Cimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am : F3 ^- I; f. r
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of , I4 \' W- ?* G; J. Q
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
, w( n# S1 V1 L! n$ Sadmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.: _6 N7 D: Z' Z( Y2 J( j4 T
" q, M8 {; _) n2 m) O1 A R `Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
4 u" A1 v3 \5 ~# nAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
7 I2 p5 \" J5 E4 i% m& [from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
3 Y5 y, {$ c- E, R4 R9 o& mstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
1 c8 V+ j4 U4 q" Mis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and 5 N! Y, d0 ?, _ ]3 V
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for 3 Z! s" a5 c8 y/ O+ u
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?, I, N! n. j5 c, v
. m+ z' O) G; {# Q( FPlease come with your experiences and ideas.# b0 r$ k1 S* ], Y- [* P. z
Thank you all
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